"The 6 Pillars of Successful Businesses" Pillar #1.

Vision & Planning First, as an investor you need to begin with the goal in mind. For example, do you want to be a Full time investor and grow an empireor dabble at first to see success then figure it out from there after you close a deal? This way, once you know, you'll be able to take the right action steps toward turning your vision into a reality. Pillar #2. Specialized Knowledge You wouldn't hire an accountant to give you legal advice, right? Of course not. The same principle applies to real estate. If you want to generate quick cash in real estate you need to do wholesaling. If you want to build long term wealth, you go into commercial real estate holds Which means, if you want to generate fast profits as a wholesaler, you should specialize in this field and soak up all the knowledge you can about it. Pillar #3. Applied Strategy This is where most investors mess it up. For example, they may have first decided to wholesale for a quick assignment feethen when they see all the profits in the deal, they change their tune and want to try and do it all on their own. Unfortunately, it usually doesn't work out. So make sure you stick to your strategy, and then progress to a more advanced one once you have "legs" underneath you... Pillar #4. Mentorship & Advisors 7 years ago when I lost everything, I went out and got a mentor in real estate. Thanks to that mentorship in 2 months, I was able to put several deals together and turn everything around.

Now, in my businesses I have many Advisorsand i hire specialists to do work that they're experts in. Mentors can help you turn your life around, and take it to the next several levels you desire. They're absolutely essential and often while you have to "pay" for their time, they're worth every penny and more....

Pillar #5. Strategic Partners A big difference between unsuccessful investors and successful investors are Partnerships. You see, unsuccessful investors are often "Do-It-Yourselfers"the kind that wears all the hats in the business. They try to market for a deal, contract it, find or raise the money for it, fix or rehab the property, maintain the accountingyou name it. The benefit of strategic partners is you get to focus on what you do best, and share the rest of the deal. This allows you to actually do MORE deals, and make MORE in the long run. Pillar #6. Systems & Processes BEFORE you close your first deal, start thinking about ways to systemize your businessthink of the example of McDonald's where everyone has a checklist and a role to play. But if you're new or haven't done a deal yet, let's focus on getting one under your belt before you set about building all of these systems and processes for growth. Because after the first one's done you'll gain confidence, you'll have some nice business profits to rely on to hire people part-time (or some virtual assistants) to do most of the work for you, and then you can focus on deal-making.

We often hear the word stock. In merchandising, stock can mean the goods or merchandise kept on a warehouse that is available for sale or distribution. However, that isnt the stock that we are about to discuss. The stocks we will tackle on this article is all about the stocks of a corporation. When you are planning to buy shares of stock or invest in the stock market, it is important that you first learn the basics of corporate stocks. So here are the following things you should know and understand about stocks of a corporation. What are stocks? Corporate stocks or capital stocks are shares of ownership in a stock corporation. When you own stocks in a corporation, you become a stockholder or shareholder of that company. In other words you become a part-owner of that corporation based on the number of the shares you own. Ownership of stocks is represented by a stock certificate.

What is a corporation? A corporation is an artificial being created by operation of law, having the right of succession and the powers, attributes and properties expressly authorized by law or incident to its existence. Corporations can be a stock corporation or a non-stock corporation. Non-stock corporations are considered non-forprofit corporations. Examples of a non-stock corporation are foundations and charitable institutions. It is in the stock corporation where stocks are transferable. Furthermore, it is in the publicly listed corporations or companies where stocks are traded (buy or sell) in the stock market. A company becomes publicly listed when its shares are traded in the Philippine Stock Exchange. Who are stockholders or shareholders? Stockholders or shareholders are those who own shares of stock of a stock corporation or a publicly listed company, until the time that they decide to sell and transfer them to new owners. As owners, they participate in that companys growth and future profits. On the contrary, they may also lose if the company suffers a loss or performs below market expectations. What is the stock market? A stock market is a place where stocks are bought and sold. The Philippine stock market is the place where people can invest in publicly listed companies in the Philippines Stock Exchange (PSE). What are the different types of stocks? The usual types of stocks are common stock, preferred stock, cumulative preferred stock and convertible preferred stock. The difference depends on the right and privileges which you receive as a stockholder. What are common stocks? Common stocks or common shares usually have voting rights. Holders of common stock are able to influence the corporation through votes on establishing corporate objectives and policy, stock splits, and electing the companys board of directors. They are usually purchased for participation in the profits and control of ownership and the management of the company. Common stock holders are entitled to an equal pro rata division of profits without preference or advantage over another stockholder. However, they have the last claim on dividends and are the last to collect in case of liquidation. The majority of securities traded in the Philippine stock exchange are common stocks. Common shares can be classified into class A and class B shares. Class A shares are reserved to Filipino investors, while Class B shares are open to foreign investors as well as Filipinos. Thus, Filipinos can own both classes while foreigners can only avail of Class B shares. Both classes have the same privileges and rights, and receive the same amount of dividends. What are preferred stocks? Preferred stocks are another type of securities issued by corporations. Its name is derived from the preference given to the holders of this stock over holders of common stocks. Holders of the preferred stocks are entitled to receive a fixed minimum amount of dividends (expressed either in pesos or as percentage of the stocks par value), to the extent declared by the companys Board and if there are sufficient retained earnings, before any dividends are paid to the holders of common stocks. What are cumulative preferred stocks? Cumulative preferred stocks are special preferred stocks that accumulate unpaid dividends for future payment. Cumulative preferred stock has prior rights to dividends over common stock; therefore the omitted cumulative preferred dividends must be paid before the common stock dividends can be paid. What are convertible preferred stocks? Convertible preferred stocks are preferred stocks which are exchangeable into common stocks at the option of the holder under specified terms and conditions. The conversion ratio specifies the number of shares the holder receives upon surrender while the conversion price is effective price paid for the common stock when conversion occurs. Reference: Corporation Code of the Philippines / Philippine Stock Exchange

The month of September has just arrived, and we know that this is the start of the four Ber months that are coming. This is also the beginning of the counting to the most awaited holiday season of the year the Christmas season. Christmas is celebrated all over the world and there are many exciting things that everyone is anticipating. Christmas parties, carols, exchanging gifts and more importantly the time to devote oneself to our Savior Jesus Christ are some of the things that make these holidays great. This season can also be a good opportunity to provide people with the products and services that they need for the special holidays. We know that to love money is not good, but to love helping people by providing

them what they need is just a wise act that gives anyone a decent profit in return. The following is a list of popular business ideas for the Christmas holiday season. 1. Ham making business Ham is one of the most favorite dishes during the Christmas Eve. 2. Queso de bola (edam cheese) business a good dish on the table during Christmas. 3. Puto Bumbong and Bibingka Business the favorite food and snack for people who attend the Simbang Gabi or Mesa de Gallo. 4. Lechon (roasted pig, roasted chicken) business Lechon is an all time Filipino dish. 5. Pancit (bihon, canton, palabok, miki, etc.) business Pancit represents long life. 6. Cakes and pastries baking business We love cakes. 7. Chocolate and candy business Kids love chocolates and candies. They expect them on Christmas and even on the Christmas trees. 8. Fruit stand People will look for different fruits for their fruit salad and fruit diet. 9. Wines, beers and soft drink retail business In a great occasion like this, these beverages are on a high demand. 10. Food catering services Nowadays, people are often so busy. That is why they will go for a food catering rather than cook and serve their own dishes during the fest. 11. Mini groceries you can provide all the simple needs of your neighbors like cooking ingredients. 12. Christmas craft and dcor business Christmas trees, Christmas lights, Tinsel, bells, candles and Christmas parols are just some of the examples of Christmas dcor you can make and sell to people. 13. Christmas giveaways You can make deals with companies to manufacture their Christmas corporate giveaways for their clients and customers. 14. Personalized item business the best gift one can give is something that is a personalized item. 15. Freight forwarding Christmas gifts from other places should arrive to their recipient at the right time. 16. Travel agency People are coming home this Christmas, and they need an effective and efficient transportation. 17. Money lending Every occasion needs a financial budget. 18. Money transfer People are sending not only goods, but also money. 19. Event organizing Expect events on the Holidays, such as Christmas parties and concerts and other events that attract a crowd. 20. Event hosting Corporate parties need an entertaining host. 21. Video coverage service Great memories need to be captured through moving pictures 22. Photography Well, photographs are must especially that everyone want to upload them on their Facebook. 23. Sound systems Street parties need a good sound system. 24. Music and dance performing If you are a musician, have a band or a dance group, then you and your group can be guest performers in every events that might need your talents. 25. Choreography service expect students and employees to search for a dance instructor to choreograph them on their Christmas presentations. 26. Venue leasing if you own a good venue for party and other Christmas events, then you can make profit from rental income. 27. Christmas Bazaar (RTW and other items) Christmas is also a time for shopping those items. 28. Toy store Kids and children are expecting new toys on the Christmas Eve. 29. Electronics and gadgets (cell phones, cameras, etc.,) retailing I want a new cell phone, as well as a new laptop on Christmas Day. 30. Gadget accessories retailing Our gadgets also need new accessories. 31. Christmas party invitation cards Parties wont be filled with guests without nice invitation cards. 32. Christmas card business No need to explain further. 33. Gift wrapping and paper bags Gifts are all around the corner. 34. Jewelry business For people who want a very special gift to their loved ones. 35. Fireworks A symbol of prosperity. This is an in demand product for this season. 36. LPGs Lots of cooking is done during the Christmas season. 37. Water refilling business an all time great product can also be great during the season. 38. House repair, painting and construction services People want to make their house beautiful during this period.

39. Cell phone loading business - Christmas season is the time for connecting people. Cell phone load for calling and making texts are surely in demand. 40. Blogging and publishing You can make a blog on the Christmas niche and publish all contents (articles, videos, photos) about Christmas. You can then monetize it through Google Adsense, affiliate programs and other Internet marketing that can turn your traffic into profit. Choose your passion and start the business which you can serve best. If you think we have missed any business idea (a big or a small business idea, or an offline or online business idea) that should be included in the list, you can share it to us by making a comment below.

We know that a good relationship with your employees in the workplace is vital to every organizations success. Therefore, without much introduction, here are important steps and tips on how you can build an effective and fruitful relationship with your workers. 1. Offer a long lasting relationship. Develop a relationship that is not only for protecting yourself and your own business interest. A relationship that lasts is one that meets the future of your employees. People find a job and work in an organization, hoping that they will have a good living and attain a better life ahead. Hence, ensure that youre not just befriending your employees, but also building their brighter future. Make sure to create a relationship that relates to their long-term goals, such as financial stability, ultimate career success, and personal development. 2. Trust and be trustworthy. We know that without trustworthiness relationship fails. Therefore, dont hire people that arent trustworthy. And when you hire trustworthy people, trust them. Furthermore, dont lead people if youre not also trustworthy. Trusting and being trustworthy should work together. Hence, be sure that they can also trust you. Thu s, dont fail your promises. 3. Have due kindness and generosity . Greed is also one thing that destroys any kind of relationship. A good relationship should start by making oneself selfless instead of living it in selfishness. Be kind and generous to your employees in terms of money, attention, and recognition. Dont forget their bonuses, incentives, awards, promotion, and even their birthdays. 4. Be compassionate. Compassion is one of the most important ingredients of a great relationship. As the word relationship suggests, you must relate to your employees. By being compassionate to them, you are thinking what they think, such as their problems and worries. You are also feeling what they feel, such as their sadness and heartaches. A compassionate leader or manager usually becomes closer to his followers or subordinates because he is very proactive in dealing with their concerns. When you know what the real problems of your employees are, you will more likely come up with the right solutions. 5. Be productive and fruitful. Relationship is a human connection. Will people desire to connect with you if you are not doing well in your business or in your entrepreneurial undertakings? Perhaps they wont. If you want people to connect with you and have a good relationship with you, then show them that success is in your hands. Therefore, be a successful businessman and an entreprene ur. Dont be hasty, lazy and unwise. 6. Be a light. Good relationships are not made in the darkness; they are made in the light. This means that good relationship arises when honesty, transparency and clarity exist. Therefore dont lie and dont ever make your people believe in something that are not true. Further, show to your employees a clear direction, as well as a lucid destination. Define your organizational mission and vision, and make them achievable and awarding for everyone. 7. Be careful what you love. Love is such a wonderful thing. However not all love is right. If you want to build a good relationship in the workplace, then love your employees, and not your money. It is also important that you learn how to love yourself, for you cannot love oth ers if you cant even love yourself. Love yourself in the right way so that you can also love your people righteously. In other words, be motivated to motivate your employees, be joyful to make your employees happy, be kind to yourself to show kindness to them, be honest to encourage honesty, be diligent to influence them diligence, and finally have self-discipline to discipline your employees. If you are planning to buy shares of stock in the Philippines and want to be informed with significant information to become a successful stockholder or stock investor, it is wise that you always expand your knowledge, such as by being familiar with the terminologies used in the stock exchange. The following is a list of definition of terms and terminology about stock investing and trading in the stock market. If you think we have missed an important term below, please share and suggest it to us so that we can include it in the list. We will be updating this list to better serve you.

Annual Report An annual publication that public corporations must provide to shareholders to describe their operations and financial conditions. This includes the companys annual audited financial statements. Bid and Ask Price Bid price is the highest price that a buyer is willing and able to purchase for a share of stock. Ask price is the lowest price that a seller is wiling and able to offer for sale for a share of stock. It is also called offer price. Blue Chip - A nationally recognized, well-established and financially sound company. Board Lot the minimum number of shares one can purchase or sell a stock at a specific price range. Capital Appreciation is an increase in the market price of your stock. It is the difference between the amount you paid at the time you buy shares and the current market price of the stock. Cash Dividend is the earnings for every share of stock declared by the company. For example, if the company declares a dividend of 50 centavos per share, a stockholder with 20,000 shares will receive a cash dividend of Php 10,000, gross of tax (Php.50 x 20,000) in cash. Closing Price the last traded price of the stock at 12:00 NN of the trading day. Cyclical Stock a stock that rises quickly when economic growth is strong and falls rapidly when growth is slowing down. Dividends are paid out to shareholders, representing earnings of the company that is not going to be reinvested in their business. Please see cash dividend and stock dividend for types of dividends. High and Low Price High price is the highest price the stock traded for the trading day. Low price is the lowest price the stock traded for the trading day. Initial Public Offering (IPO) is a process whereby a privately held corporation offers for sale its shares of stock for the first time to the public in order to raise capital to fund investments and business expansion. Market Capitalization the currency value of a companys outstanding shares based on its current stock price. It is calculated by multiplying the companys outstanding shares by the current stock market price. Market Value the price at which buyers and sellers are willing to purchase or sell the stock based on the information perceived value. Mergers and Acquisitions A merger is a combination of two companies to form a new company, while an acquisition is the purchase of one company by another with no new company being formed. Opening Price the first price the stock traded for the trading day. Preferred Stock A class of ownership in a corporation that has a higher claim on the assets and earnings than common stock. Price-Earnings Ratio a valuation ratio of a companys current share price compared to its per -share earnings. Publicly Listed Companies A company becomes publicly listed when its shares are traded in the Philippine Stock Exchange. To become a publicly listed company, a company must meet the stringent listing and reportorial requirement of the PSE to safeguard the investors interest and secure transparency. PSE Composite Index (PSEi) is the benchmark index measuring the performance of the Philippine stock market. It is a fixed basket comprised of 30 listed companies representing the general movement of stock prices. The selection of these companies is based on a specific set of criteria. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) a government agency whose primary mission is to protect investors and maintain the integrity of the capital markets, among which is the stock market. Stocks are shares of ownership in a corporation. When you buy stocks of a publicly listed company, you become a stockholder or shareholder of that company. In other words, you become a part-owner of the company. As an owner, you participate in that companys growth and future profits. On the contrary, you may also lose if the company suffers a loss or performs below market expectations. Stockbroker or Trading Participant is the one who acts as an agent/broker between buyer and seller of stocks in the stock market. A Trading Participant is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is a member of the PSE, authorized to execute orders for purchases or sales of stocks. Stock Certificate a piece of paper that certifies a persons share ownership in a corporation. Stock Dividends are additional shares given to shareholders at no cost. For example, if the company declares a 25 percent stock dividend, a stockholder with 20,000 shares will be entitled to an additional 5,000 shares of stock. These shares can also be sold anytime after the shares have been issued.

Stockholders or Shareholders are those who own shares of stock of a corporation or a publicly listed company, at least until the time that they decide to sell and transfer them to new owners. Stockholders or shareholders are given stock certificate corresponding to the shares they owned. Stock Market a place where stocks are bought and sold. The Philippine stock market is the place where people can invest in publicly listed companies in the Philippines Stock Exchange (PSE). Stock Price the currency value of a listed company per share in the stock market. It is derived by dividing the market capitalization by the total number of shares outstanding. Ticker a computerized listing of information showing stock market activity and stock price movements. Information includes the stock symbol, last traded price, and the volume of shares traded. Limit Order a type of transaction order placed with your stockbroker to buy or sell shares of stock at a specified buying or selling price. Market Order a type of transaction order placed with your stockbroker to buy or sell shares of stock at the current market price. Good-til-cancelled Order a type of transaction order placed with a stockbrokerage firm to buy or sell shares of stock which remains outstanding for seven calendar days until cancelled by the investor or trader. Day Order a type of transaction order placed with a stockbrokerage firm to buy or sell shares of stock that is only valid for one trading day. Value Turnover the amount of transactions in peso terms traded on a particular period. Volume the number of shares traded in the stock market during a given period of time. Reference: Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) Publications

How to Buy Shares of Stock in the Philippines

Posted: 31 Aug 2011 09:16 AM PDT

Do you want to be a part-owner of the countrys top corporations, such as Ayala, PLDT, San Miguel and SM Investments? Dont you know that you dont need to become a billionaire or a millionaire to have a slice of ownership of these listed companies in the Philippines? You dont need to become an Ayala to own shares of stocks of Ayala Corporation or a Sy to become a co-owner of SM corporations. A corporation is a separate legal entity distinct from its owners or shareholders. A stock corporation is a company which ownership is expressed by shares of stock that are transferable or assignable, subject to certain conditions. Further, listed corporations or publicly traded companies, like Ayala and SM corporations, are companies that offer its shares of stocks for sale to the general public through a stock exchange. The following are steps and guidelines on how to buy and invest in shares of stock of listed companies in the Philippines. 1. Know and understand stock investing. Before you start buying and investing on shares of corporate stocks, you should first have an understanding of what it is. You also need to answer some important questions about stock exchange and other related matters. The following are some basic things you need to know about stock investing: What are stocks? Stocks are shares of ownership in a corporation. When you buy stocks of a publicly listed company, you become a stockholder or shareholder of that company. In other words, you become a part-owner of the company. As an owner, you participate in that companys growth and future profits. On

the contrary, you may also lose if the company suffers a loss or performs below market expectations. What is the stock market? A stock market is a place where stocks are bought and sold. The Philippine stock market is the place where people can invest in publicly listed companies in the Philippines Stock Exchange (PSE). Who are called stockholders or stock investors? Investors in stocks or stockholders are those who own shares of stock of a publicly listed company, at least until the time that they decide to sell an transfer them to new owners. Stockholders or shareholders are given certificate of stock ownership corresponding to the shares they owned. What are publicly listed companies? A company becomes publicly listed when its shares are traded in the Philippine Stock Exchange. To become a publicly listed company, a company must meet the stringent listing and reportorial requirement of the PSE to safeguard the investors interest and secure transparency. How will your money grow in the stock market? There are two ways to make your money grow in the stock market. These are (1) through an increase in stock price or capital appreciation and (2) through dividends declared by the company where you have invested in. Capital appreciation is an increase in the market price of your stock. It is the difference between the amount you paid at the time you buy shares and the current market price of the stock. Dividends are paid out to shareholders, representing earnings of the company that is not going to be reinvested in their business. Dividends can be in the form of cash or stock dividends. 2. Choose your Stockbroker or Trading Participant (TP). A Stockbroker or Trading Participant acts as an agent/broker between buyer and seller of stocks in the stock market. A Trading Participant is licensed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and is a member of the PSE, authorized to execute orders for purchases or sales of stocks. Your choice of stockbroker should depend on the type of service you will require and who will best suit your needs. Stockbrokers can be classified into traditional or online (via Internet). Traditional brokers are those who assign a licensed salesman to handle your account and take your orders via a written instruction or through a phone call. On the other hand, online brokers are those whose main interface with their customer is through the internet. Clients execute their orders and access market information directly online or via the Internet. You can obtain a complete list of accredited stockbrokers of the Philippine Stock Exchange either by visiting www.pse.com.ph or contacting the PSE at (632) 688-7600. 3. Open a stockbrokerage account. Opening an account with a stockbroker is similar to the process in opening a bank account. You will be required to fill out a form called Customer Account Information (CAIF) and submit the following documents, namely: Two (2) valid IDs, Specimen signature cards, and proof of billing. Stockbrokers may also ask to provide an initial cash deposit in order to start investing in the stock market. Filipinos abroad may conveniently open a stockbrokerage account with an online stockbroker or apply directly to any overseas branches of Philippine banks that are affiliated to any of the active stockbrokerages in the PSE. 4. Search for companies to invest in. You can check all the publicly listed companies in the Philippines by going to the Listed Companies section of PSE website (see No.2), which you can click on the sidebar under Other Links. There you can browse the listed companies according to alphabetical order, symbol or industry sector (e.g., banks, construction, information technology, media, mining and telecommunications). You can also check a companys corporate information and financial data (e.g., financial position, financial performance, cash flow, etc.,) by getting and analyzing its annual financial reports or audited financial statements. 5. Place your order through your brokerage. You can place an order to buy or sell a stock by making a telephone call (or sending a text message) to your stockbroker or directly online via the Internet. All buying and selling orders are subject to a minimum number of shares as prescribed by the board lot table instituted by the PSE. Prices in the stock market may fluctuate according to the set intervals based on the price level of the shares. Once your order has been carried out, your stockbroker will give you a confirmation invoice showing the details of your transaction. 6. Monitor and manage your investments in the stock market. Watch your investments and always be informed with the significant information about your investments, such as stock price movements, corporate news and updates (eg., change in management), and other relevant market information. The PSE website is a great source and reference of important information about the stock market and the specific stocks or companies that you invest in. You can also get the following information from the PSE website: PSE news, corporate disclosures, market information (i.e., stock quotes,

gainers/losers, active stocks, dividends/rights), the PSE Index Chart, listed company update, Initial Public Offerings (IPO) news, PSE regulations, Trading Participant News, mutual funds, currency rates, and other PSE publications. You may also read the PSEs Basic Guide to Investing in the Philippine Stock Market for more information. Employees and workers are the best resources of a business. They are the ones who contribute to the productivity and profitability of a certain company or enterprise. Thus, justice and righteousness dictate that these people should be given with due benefits, monetarily or personally. Aside from the salaries and wages they receive for the hours they have worked, the law also mandates that these workers be given with extra benefits that will promote their well-being at work and in life as a whole. Besides, employers and business owners know that the key to productivity is to always make their personnel motivated and happy. However, because any benefits that are given to workers form part of their income, income tax may be imposed on them. There are also benefits that may be exempted from income tax, like de minimis fringe benefits. The following are the definition and examples of these benefits according to the tax code, as amended. What are De Minimis Benefits? The term De Minimis benefits which are exempt from the fringe benefit tax shall, in general, be limited to facilities or privileges furnished or offered by an employer to his employees that are of relatively small value and are offered or furnished by the employer merely as a means of promoting the health, goodwill, contentment, or efficiency of his employees. The following are considered as de minimis benefits granted to each employee as updated by Revenue Regulation (RR) 5-2011 dated March 16, 2011 further amending Revenue Regulations No. 2-98 and Revenue Regulations No. 3-1998, as last amended by RR 52008: (a) Monetized unused vacation leave credits of private employees not exceeding 10 days during the year (b) Monetized value of vacation and sick leave credits paid to government officials and employees; (c) Medical cash allowance to dependents of employees not exceeding P750.00 per employee per semester or P125 per month; (d) Rice subsidy of P1,500.00 or one (1) sack of 50-kg rice per month amounting to not more than P1,500.00; (e) Uniforms and clothing allowance not exceeding P4,000 per annum; (f) Actual medical assistance, e.g. medical allowance to cover medical and healthcare needs, annual medical/executive check-up, maternity assistance, and routine consultations, not exceeding P10,000 per annum; (g) Laundry allowance not exceeding P300 per month; (h) Employees achievement awards, e.g., for length of service or safety achievement, which must be in the form of a tangible personal property other than cash or gift certificate, with an annual monetary value not exceeding P10,000.00 received by the employee under an established written plan which does not discriminate in favor of highly paid employees; (i) Gifts given during Christmas and major anniversary celebrations not exceeding P5,000 per employee per annum; and (j) Daily meal allowance for overtime work and night/graveyard shift not exceeding 25% of the basic minimum wage on a per region basis. All other benefits given by employers which are not included in the above enumeration shall not be considered as de minimis benefits, and hence, shall be subject to fringe benefit tax. To learn more about Fringe Benefit tax, please visit and read our article titled How to Compute Fringe Benefit Tax in the Philippines. Source: Revenue Regulation (RR) 5-2011 How to build teamwork among your staff or employees? Being a manager, supervisor or the leader in any organization has never been an easy task. They are given with duties and responsibilities which involve managing and leading people to achieve a common goal. Speaking of a common goal, teamwork is one essential thing that any group or organization should develop to reach that goal. Here are important tips that will help you bring your people together to effectively and efficiently accomplish your organizational objectives. 1. Start building teamwork from yourself. As a leader, you should be the one to lead in showing to your people that youre doing your part as a member of a team. Yes you are the leader or the manager, but

that doesnt mean youre not a member. You are actually considered as the member that has the biggest and greatest responsibility and tasks to be accomplished. So do your best as the head or the captain of your team. To do that, you should build teamwork within yourself. This means that you need to unite and harmonize your mind, heart and spirit to work as one to come up with concrete decisions. A person whose mental and emotional aspects are not harmonizing, and who cant even lead himself, is not going to be a strong leader or a manager. 2. Set clear goals and objectives. This is to make sure that your people will be heading to a common road. If your goals are not achievable, or even if achievable but are not desirable, your subordinates or followers might not become enthusiastic to reach those goals. Of course there might be some among your people who will be forced to follow you. But teamwork means everyone is following and coordinating, and not only some. Objectives should also be aligned with clear and specific steps or procedures. Good objectives are desirable, but when there are no certain steps to accomplish them, those objectives become nothing but dreams to be wished for. Thus, make sure to provide a direction and a destination where all your people can fit in. 3. Know your employees and give the right tasks for them. A very important thing to do in building teamwork among your employees is to put them in the right positions. Place your workers or staff where they fit in or where they are best of. This requires your attention and dedication to know your people. That is why its also vital to always talk and communicate with them to learn their different traits and personalities. Every people have their own strengths and weaknesses. Youve got to understand them and make out the best of it. Just like a basketball team, you need to assign who is the best player for a forward, for a center, and for a point guard. 4. Get your people closer to each other. This also includes you. Youve also got to be closer to them. Workers and their managers maybe spending more time together in the workplace than they are in their homes. However, this doesnt mean they are already close to each other. There can always be gaps and cold wars among people though they see each other everyday. To avoid those gaps, you need to do things that will make everyone see each other beyond what their eyes can see. In other words, you need to conduct activities that will make the people inside your organization see the emotional or spiritual sides among them. These activities can be in the form of retreat or out-of-town teambuilding activities. Getting your employees in a longer trip, for example out-of-town travelling, makes them closer and learn each other than only bringing them to nearby trips. You can also go with your employees in their regular activities outside office, such as taking lunch and having dinner. But be careful to be natural. Do this not for your personal interest, but for their interest and protection. 5. Choose the right people. Finally, you should understand that there are people that no matter what you do will not coordinate to a team work. As quality management suggests, you need to be wise in staffing and hiring employees to be part of your team. Therefore, start building teamwork inside your organization by hiring the people who have the value of teamwork.

How to Get More Likes on Your Facebook Status Updates

Posted: 28 Aug 2011 07:18 AM PDT

Awesomeness is cool and every people want to get a piece of it, especially in the top social networking

site, Facebook. Since the rise of Facebook, its hundreds of million of members are already sharing the answer on the question whats on your mind everyday, every hour and even every minute. From business people who want to promote their products to potential customers, to simple people who just want to share their lifes experiences online, Facebook is the place to go. However, not all who want to get noticed get the attention that they want. We can tell that by looking on the number of likes and comments on ones every shared status updates. Facebook users can share status updates which must be less than 500 characters. These updates can be in the form of texts, photos, videos and links. The following are some important tips on how to make your friends click that Like button and get more Likes on your Facebook status updates. Have a good profile offline. Your online success starts outside the Internet. If you are really friendly as a person and have a lot of friends offline, you will have the better chance to gain more friends online. Be a good and helpful person at your home, workplace and anywhere in the real world. The more friends you have offline, the more you will get friends online. And the more friends you have on Facebook, the more likes you will get on your status updates. Besides, you can also ask your Dad, Mom, brothers, sisters and your closest friends to just like your updates. The closer they are, the more you will have confidence in asking those likes. And when the likes start, the curiosity of other users on your status will also begin. Be close to your Facebook friends. Be closer to them. Chat with them or send them important messages, not spam! If youre not comfortable with chatting, then you can communicate with them right through their walls or status updates. Like their updates and make relevant comments. Also, dont forget to greet them on their birthdays. Often, conversation starts on the commenting. When you are close to your friends, their hearts, minds and hands are closer to clicking the Like button on your status updates. Share useful updates. This goes to link updates. Dont share all your links, whether they are your blog posts or website pages. Share only the links that you think will be of great help to your Facebook friends. You need to have a goo reputation in sharing just great updates. So be careful and be wise on sharing things on your wall. You can also share current news that help people to be currently updated on whats happening to the world. Share controversial and intriguing updates. Im not talking about gossips, unless youre a person of star talk. What I mean is share updates that will make your friends engage in an enthusiastic conversation, which can make your status have a long chain of comments. Intriguing status updates are those that are personally related to your friends. If your updates directly connect to them personally, your update will get likes and comments directly from their thoughts and emotions. Return the favor. Thank your friends for liking your status updates. You can also return the favor by also clicking the Like button in their status updates or on their photos. When your friends know that you always return the liking, they will always like your updates when they need a Like to their own status updates. There are many other ways and tactics you can do to attract users to like your status updates. You just need to do experiments for yourself. You should also understand that people can be different in many other ways. People have their own interests, which also mean your Status updates can be likable to some and not to others. Thus, it is important that you should also choose your friends. Friendliness doesnt mean you will befriend all the people in the world, including the people that can harm you. Friendliness simply means befriending anyone whom you can make a good friend and whom you can be a good friend to him or her also.

A one-man business or company might become successful. However, a business empire can become more successful, stable and profitable. Thus, if you want to reach the zenith of business success, building an enterprise which employs a great army of workers and influence a great number of customers and people is a great goal to consider and achieve. Creating a business kingdom seems to be difficult. But in this world, including the business world, anything can happen and any dream can become reality. The following are tips that will guide you on how to build your successful business empire. 1. Start building the business empire in yourself. Create it first in your mind. Make a strategic plan. Assess yourself what kind of business can you handle and manage best. Ask yourself, do you have all the skills, experience, talents, knowledge and financial resources in bringing that business to ultimate success? You should start a business that you will never quit. Dont start a business just because it is popular; start a business that you can make popular. Be unique and be the first.

2. Conquer yourself. People are the most important part of a business empire, and the first person that you must motivate to work for you is yourself. Hence, you should have a strong motivation to pursue your business goals. Conquer your own self. Overcome and defeat your weaknesses, such as indolence, procrastination, impatience and ignorance. Start knowing yourself and discovering your hidden talents and potentials. Improve yourself by learning and realizing more things that are of important to your objectives. 3. Have a great cause. Your business should have a great purpose. It should not be built only for money and financial profit, but to help people and make their lives better. Thus, you should be producing products and services that are of best quality to save people lives. You should provide products that will change the world. Consider Windows from Microsoft Corporation or iPods, iPhone and iPads from Apple, Inc. There are also small products that can affect our lives greatly, like the Post-it note, which people use in their work desks. Always remember that the key to product success is uniqueness and usefulness. 4. Conquer your own people before you conquer the world. Dont be hasty and try to invade the worldwide market right away. Start from a niche. Start from the small portion of the market that you can surely win. Remember that a big success comes from a little success. Hence, focus on one success first, then multiply it later. Consider the success of Facebook. Facebook started from being a social network within the Harvard campus where Mark Zuckerberg studied before it becomes the No. 1 social networking site in the world. Thus, you can start your business by providing products and services to your friends and to your local community. If you will not satisfy them, then how much more you will satisfy the world? 5. Unite your army. You cannot build a successful business empire if your workers and employees are not united, happy and motivated. They must stay in motivation and in high-morale to become productive. Thus, you need to learn better management and leadership to always influence your people to your organizational goals. Hire the best people and train them well. 6. Follow the greater laws. No one is above the law, even the lawmakers. Whether they are the laws of the land or the laws of the heaven, our businesses should observe and follow them. Laws and regulations are established to promote peace and order. Thus, if you want to have a successful business empire, you should assure that it is according to the law. Be reminded that no matter how big your business or company will be, if you will not observe ethics and righteousness, it will eventually fall. Besides, businesses that are built with integrity are the businesses that mostly win the heart of many people. There are still many specifics things we should learn on building a successful enterprise or corporation. Perhaps, the discussion would require a book rather than a single article like this. However, this article aims to give you the fundamentals and principles which will become the foundation you will need to build your great business. Once you have built the foundation, its up to you to continue until you reach the skies.

How to earn respect from your employees? In leading and managing any business organization, money and financial profits arent only the important things that should be earned by an employer or business owner. Respect is one more important thing that every business leader and manager must gain to achieve business and organizational stability. If you think that your workers and employees are not showing and giving you enough respect, the following important tips and steps will help you regain and earn a lot of respect from them.

To earn respect, you need to pay respect Know the kind of respect youre giving

You must understand that earning something doesnt happen instantly. Every earnings in the world comes from spending and investing. Thus, you also need to invest respect to earn respect. You need to pay your employees the due respect for them, so that they will also give you the due respect for you. It is a golden rule that many people dont follow.

Most managers and employers are perhaps showing respect. But are they real? There have been many signs of respect anyone can show to other people. However, everyone should remember that these are only signs and not the respect itself. Thus, its very important that we do not only show signs of respect,

but also give the real respect itself to our subordinates. The respect one should give to other people should be true and pure. It is the kind of respect that is perceived not only by the receivers eyes, but also by his mind, heart and soul.

Give every respect that you can

A good employer always finds opportunities to make his employees happy, motivated and productive. Giving respect that touches his peoples lives is one thing that he also loves to do. These kinds of respects that he is giving include the following: Respect of the employees privilege to develop more professionally, personally and financially Respect of the employees right to safe and healthy working environment Respect of the employee right to stay in a reputable environment and organization with integrity Respect of privacy Respect of individuality (e.g., being a female or a male) And many more

Pay more than respect

Finally, earning the respect from your employees doesnt only achieved by paying them the due respect for them. Managers and employers should also invest and pay more than respect. They should also pay their employees important things, such as attention, care, love, kindness, compassion and money. These things can be represented by giving them time, talk, recognition, answers, helps, and bonuses. If you will invest and give your employees the pure respect that are worth for them, and if you will further pay them more than just respect, like paying attention, there is a good news that might happen to you and to your organization as a whole. You will find them giving you the respect you need to be an inspired employer, leader and manager. You will also see your employees becoming happy, motivated and productive because of the real respect you are giving them. You know what I mean.

How to Have Passive Income

Posted: 23 Aug 2011 10:50 AM PDT

Passive income is sweet, as it is an income received on a regular basis, with little effort required to

maintain it. Examples of these earnings are rental income from property, royalties from publishing a book, advertising income generated from websites and blogs, dividend income from stock investments, interests from loans receivables and cash deposits in banks, pensions, and profit from business where there is no extensive involvement in operating such enterprise. When you are earning from passive income, life would be easier and you will have more time to spend with your family and even with yourself. Thus, it is very important to know and learn the secret on how to create wealth and have a passive income. So how can we build it?

Building passive income

Passive income isnt one thing that is earned instantly or overnight, but it is something that built with a lot of time, hard work, patience, consistency and the right strategy. For example, to earn income from rent, you need to have a property. You need to work hard for a period of time to earn enough money to buy a property. This is also the same with earning interest income from deposits in banks. Of course you first need to have a bundle of bucks to be deposited in banks to earn a decent amount of interest. Another example is the passive income earned from advertising revenue generated by a website or blog. Before a blog becomes profitable, it must first attract a lot of regular visitors. A blog needs high amount of traffic to generate enough profit. And before a blog gain that kind of traffic, the blogger or its owner must first invest diligence, patience, focus and time for experimenting, learning and applying the most effective strategies. This blog you are reading is one example of a source of passive income. Although, the amount is not that high compare to other blogs out there that are earning hundred thousands of dollars every month, this blog generates hundred of dollars a month even without exerting much effort to maintain that income. I can even earn that amount even if I only work one day in a week to update this blog. But of course, earning is not only what in my mind. Helping my visitors and readers by sharing them useful information is one vital activity that I always keep in mind and do continuously. Besides, this income is not going to decrease, and it will even increase and increase if I will keep on working.

The secret to passive income

Passive income should have a foundation or should be based on a valuable asset. They are like fruits bear by a tree. As weve discussed earlier, rental income is based on a valuable property, interest income is based on a decent amount of cash, dividend income is based on valuable stocks, and online advertising income is based on a high-traffic website or blog. In other words they are not based on things that are created in an instant, but they are based on assets built through time. The secret to creating passive income starts from choosing the best way where you can be passionate about in building such income. In my case, I love writing and teaching people what I know. That is why I choose blogging and publishing useful information that are aligned with my expertise, i.e., business and finance (well, Im honestly and humbly a Certified Public Accountant). When you have chosen your best interest, you need to value it and do it patiently and consistently. Just like planting a tree, you need to nurture it and wait patiently to grow it gradually. Trees grow slowly, but they live lastingly. And when they bear fruits, you can repeatedly and regularly harvest them without planting them again. Unlike planting rice, they grow quickly, and they also die quickly. You can only harvest rice once, and if you want to make a second harvest, you need to plant rice again. This is not what passive income is. Passive income is like the fruits we harvest from a tree. Thus, if you want to gain passive income, you need to have a longer plan a plan that includes longer steps that require more patience, hard work and focus. Just like this blog, I build it for several months with determination and consistent investment of time, effort and attention. This blog is starting to bear fruits, but they are not yet ripe. That is why Im still developing and enriching this blog until it becomes like a grown tree a fully developed and established web property or asset that generates enough passive income.

If you are craving for cakes, such as the Black Forest, Chocolate Heaven, Chocolate Fudge Cake and other mouthwatering flavored cakes, there is one bakeshop that is popular for those great-tasting cakes Red Ribbon Bakeshop. Red Ribbon products, which include cakes and pastries, have already been a favorite

pasalubong of many Filipinos whenever they visit their families and loved ones in the provinces. From its first store in Timog, Quezon City opened in 1979, what started out as hobby-induced business turned out to be a proudly Filipino-owned and professionally-run business network in the Philippines and even in the US. Red Ribbon has grown to over 200 outlets all over the country and over 38 stores in the US with locations in California, Las Vegas, Arizona, New Jersey and New York. Red Ribbon became part of the Jollibee Foods Corporation family when it was acquired by the corporation in October 2005. The company aims to bring the joy of eating to everyone through its greattasting food and superior quality products and customer service. Red Ribbon uses premium ingredients, such as real butter, high quality cake flour, and its unique Red Ribbon cream. Their cakes have become a tradition, an integral part of every celebration birthdays, christenings, anniversaries, and weddings. Owing to its heritage of bringing families and friends together through its delicious, elegantly-designed cakes and other specially prepared products, Red Ribbon captures this core benefit in a campaign that best summarizes what the company has stood for over the years, Whatever the celebration, its more beautiful with a Red Ribbon. Red Ribbon is open for franchising, and if you wan t to get a slice of their successful and profitable business, the following important information on how to get a Red Ribbon Franchise in the Philippines shall guide you. How much capitalization is required to franchise a Red Ribbon Bakeshop? The capitalization or investment cost needed for a Red Ribbon Bakeshop ranges from P6 million to P10 million with a minimum store size of 80 square meters in floor area. There are also royalty and advertising fees involved. How long is the life or term of the franchise agreement? The franchise agreement is valid for ten (10) years. How much money can the franchisee expect to make? The amount of money or income that can be derived from a Red Ribbon outlet will depend on a variety of factors such as sales, cost of rental, management controls, labor and operating costs. These factors will vary from location to location. The dedication, quality of time and effort you pour into the business will likewise play an important role. Numerous possibilities on profitability will be discussed with the applicant at a particular stage of the application process. What are the application requirements? The applicant will be required to submit the following: Letter of intent Information on the proposed site (including a location map, site development plan and/or floor plan) Comprehensive resume Completely filled-up Red Ribbon Application Form with a 2 x 2 colored photo (this can be secured from RRBI office) What type of training is available to a franchisee prior to opening of the bakeshop? Red Ribbon provides the franchisee and his/her Management Team (Store Manager and two Supervisors) with a two-month training program on top of the two-week training for its store crew members. The training includes classroom instruction combined with in-store hands-on experience to make sure that the management team and crew are ready to manage the bakeshop. Additional training and support are provided on an ongoing basis. How to contact Red Ribbon for franchising inquiries? For Franchise Inquiries, please contact: Red Ribbon Bakeshop, Inc. Business and Franchise Development Unit 2907-2910, 29th Floor Jollibee Plaza, Emerald Ave. Ortigas Center, Pasig City Tel. No. (632) 706-5776 loc. 306 Fax. No. (632) 706-5539

Email: franchising@redribbonbakeshop.com.ph Please visit their official website at www.redribbonbakeshop.com.ph for the latest updates and more information.

How to Get 7-Eleven Franchise in the Philippines

Posted: 22 Aug 2011 07:52 PM PDT

Ive been in Metro Manila the previous week to take a break from work and enjoy the skyline of the major cities (Manila, Makati, etc.,) of the Philippines. Well, as a guy who lives in the province and as an internet entrepreneur who works at home, vacation for me means wandering in the busy cities of this country. If I live and work in Makati, then vacation for me might be visiting our province. Its an opposing situation, you know what I mean. I stayed in a budget hotel, actually in a Pension House in Malate, Manila. As we know, Manila is a city that never sleeps. Thus, when we are still outside our home or outside our room, and we feel the hunger, the places where we go to buy the food and other stuff we need are convenience stores, which are open for business 24-hours a day. 7-eleven is one convenience store that everyone knows and trusts in Metro Manila. This is also where I go to buy some snacks and even have my dinner whenever I feel starvation while Im walking along the streets of the big cities. In o ur province of Leyte, there are no 7-eleven stores. That is why I got interested in knowing how to get a 7-Eleven Franchise in the Philippines. The following are the information I got from their official website. What does 7-Eleven Franchise offers? Philippine Seven Corporation gives you the chance to operate your own business by having access to 7Eleven expertise, business operating systems and support of a highly successful global corporation. You need determination to do it, the smarts to get it done, the power to motivate your employees and the financial commitment to make it all happen. It can be a rewarding experience for those willing to take the challenge. 7-Eleven offers: A popular and reliable global brand with a wholesome image. The top-of-mind convenience store among customers in the Philippines; An established retail operating system proven over 25 years of retail experience; Access to 7-Elevens logistics and distribution resources; Continuous developmental marketing, product R&D, and operational support; A comprehensive 8-week training program on the operation and management of a 7-Eleven store; Assigned Operations Field Consultant (OFC) who visits with the Franchisee at least once a week to provide counsel on every aspect of the business;

Monthly financial and marketing records prepared by 7-Eleven for the franchisee What are the qualifications to become a 7-Eleven franchisee? The following are what 7-Eleven looks for a franchisee:

You love a good challenge, ready to put in hardwork, manage people and monitor finances, be a creative salesperson and help foster a shopping environment that entices your customers. A self-driven entrepreneur; Knows how to motivate his staff; Willing to directly oversee the operations of a 7-Eleven Service oriented, hardworking and possess strong entrepreneurial skills Financially capable to fund the investment Must not and is not directly or indirectly engaged in any similar business in conflict with 7-Eleven How much is the investment required to own a 7-Eleven? The financial requirement ranges from P1 to P5 Million. The investment includes the operational rights of the store, equipment and facilities, furniture and fixtures, air-con system, signage, and initial inventory. How much is the return on investment? The convenience store profitability is dependent on several factors such as; satisfying customers needs; how well you implement and work the 7-Eleven operating principles; sales performance; and your ability to control operating expenses. Other questions on financial viability will be discussed only during the application process. What is the required lot size or floor area? The floor area for a 7-Eleven store is ideally 120 square meters. Potential franchisee can still apply although they dont have a location yet. Further, a corporation may apply the franchise, but it is the required that the majority shareholder be the principal applicant and attends the training. The franchisee is required to successfully complete a 4-week full time training program which is combined classroom and in-store. Who will provide the manpower to operate the store? Store manpower salaries and benefits will be provided by the Franchisee What are the steps to start applying for 7-Eleven Franchise? To begin, schedule a franchise briefing. Franchise Briefings are conducted during Mondays and Thursdays, 10:00 AM onwards or 2:00 PM onwards at the Philippine Seven Corporation head office. Download their Letter of Intent and Application Form (Visit their Application Information Web Page to download the forms) STEP 1: Accomplish the Letter Of Intent STEP 2: Complete your Application Form STEP 3: Complete all required information submit your Letter Of Intent and Application Form to franchising@7-eleven.com.ph Below are the address and the contact information of Seven Eleven Corporation: The Franchise Manager Philippine Seven Corporation 7th Floor, Columbia Tower, Ortigas Ave., near corner EDSA, Mandaluyong City, Philippines Hotline: +63 (02)726-9968 Fax : +63 (02)705-5229 Mobile : +63 (920)950-8651; +63 (917)871-1475

Email: franchising@7-eleven.com.ph For more information and latest updates, please visit their official website at www.7-eleven.com.ph

Web presence in the current times is something that is beneficial for all those who are engaged in some kind of a business. A Web presence is capable of giving any kind of online business or any other businesses a distinct edge over their local competitors when it comes to expanding their clientele. People who earn their living by providing some kind of a service can think of gaining a global exposure through the internet marketing medium. An increasing number of people are turning to the Internet every day as their most preferred source of information. Exposure to the world-wide-web allows potential customers to know about the businesses, as well as the kind of services that are provided in a much better way. Making money selling your services Selling professional services on the internet is something that has been overlooked and has been an untapped opportunity online. Most of the service providers fail to make use of this option for the purpose of online marketing. It should be considered that making money online by providing services online using web exposure and Internet marketing is essential. In order to promote your services online, you need to successfully convince or persuade potential customers in order to encourage them to contact and engage you as their preferred service provider. The following are some important tips and ways on how to promote your professional services online: 1) You need to prove that you are the best in your particular field. Be professional and show your expertise. Convince them that you are the one who can provide the services that will give them the highest rate of satisfaction. If you are best in writing, then provide writing services. If youre be st in graphic designing, then provide graphic design services. 2) You should come out to be credible, trustworthy, and also easy to work with and very good at what you do. Be honest and be true to your words. Also watch your punctuality and be on time always. 3) You should be able to provide competitive and reasonable prices. Give your clients the price for the value of what you serve. You can also try to give free extra services to show that you really have care for your customers. Establishing good relationship with your clients You need to establish a healthy and lasting relationship with your potential and existing clients for the success of your services online. A web site or blog about your offered services that is rich in useful and unique contents, and a regular newsletter subscription that can share helpful information and build a healthy trust can also turn out to be of great use for the sake of building a strong connection with your clients. Promoting your services on the Internet The online medium can also be utilised for the sake of promoting a local business, for instance the one that provides certain household services. It is not necessary that the service provider should be able to provide services globally. No matter what the service is, whether local or global, internet marketing is the best medium for the promotion of such business. When the competitors do not offer such options there is a better chance of gaining a serious edge over them. Nowadays, popular social networking site, such as Facebook and Twitter offer local advertising and promotion, where you can promote your business or online services to your friends and other people who are residing in your town or city. Gaining this kind of web presence is very cheap so there is nothing to worry about overheads. People can also simply contribute to the leading online forums and communities on the internet, and put their links at the end of their posts. Apart from this there are also those forums that let the users or members post their ads free of cost. Blogs can also be created for promoting online services. The users need to make sure that their blogs link to their web sites and vice versa. If not there is also the option of being included in someone elses blog. Final thoughts Promoting your services online has been easier this time because of the social media and other Internet places where you can promote and share important information about your services even for free. However, you should also take note that there can be as many competitors as you will have in this kind of making money online. And in order to assure success and triumph over your competitors, you should bear in mind that the best way to promote your services online is still within your service its the quality of your services. Hence, be assured that you will provide the services that can give the best satisfaction and value for your clients.

How to Promote Your Business on Online Forums

Posted: 21 Aug 2011 10:46 PM PDT

The Internet is one of the best media for the like-minded people to join together and form communities on the internet based on their similar interests or beliefs on various online forums depending on their preference for certain products or services. Interacting with online forums is a good way for Internet marketing and promoting your business online. They are the best places for communicating with your current, as well as your potential customers to come together and discuss such things. Specific and related threads on forums are good places where you can share and exchange information about your products and services to interested forum members. Further, it is also a perfect corner online to help people by providing them with answers and important information about their questions and related queries. Once you have helped them, you will gain some online friends, as well as prospective clients or customers. Besides, you can also make your own question and ask useful information from other members in return. Using online forums to promote your business If you have a website of your company or business, you can also create your own online forum that will be integrated to that website. There are a variety of businesses that can easily benefit by forming online business forums. First and the foremost, the forums make the people aware of the products and the services that the companies offer. When there are questions that people have, they can easily get answers from the current users of the products or services or even the manufactures. This also helps in growing trust and also in building a long term relationship with your existing customers and with your suppliers. Benefits of online forums There are many benefits in having online forums. Online forums allow the business to interact with a huge number of customers at a time. Some forum software solutions also have options that the users can make use of for optimizing the search terms so that the customers can easily find what they want on the search engines. In short, it helps in making your site search engine optimised. With the online support for the existing customers, the overheads incurred on the support functions can be cut down as well. Having a meaningful content also helps in the promotion of your online business. The existing customers who make use of the forums can give useful inputs that can give new dimensions to the business and may also open up new business opportunities. Businessmen can then bring and highlight the appropriate discussions that are beneficial to the business. Things to remember when using online forums One thing that the users need to keep in mind is that not all forums allow the users to just register and start posting their ads. Most of the forums might just ban such users. The users need to find the forums that relate well to their websites and become regular contributors to such forums. Most of the forums allow the users to have a signature file. This signature file is a short tagline which is usually added to the end of their posts along with the name and URL of the web site. This can be used effectively to promote the business on the forums by having a slogan and a direct link to your companys website. By frequently contributing regularly to the forums, there is a good possibility that the signature link will be visited with other members and will get indexed across all the search engines. The number of your posts is indicated

beside your name or profile. Thus, if you have many posts contributed, other members will recognize you as a senior member, and will be more confident to discuss with you. Apart from this, there are also those forums which will permit blatant advertising. These are the free advertising forums for the users web site. The users can post free ads on these forums continuously without being accused for spamming the forums. Creative titles help in getting real visitors to the posts on such forums. There are the two main strategies for promoting your business online. One is becoming a regular contributor on the quality forums related to the industry, while the other is by making use of the free advertising forums. Moreover, make sure that you join the forums that are relative to your business and interest. Hence, if your products are cell phones, then join forums that are about mobile phones. Finally, always follow the rules and the policies of each forum you are joining.

How to Make Money Online on eBay

Posted: 21 Aug 2011 09:40 PM PDT

EBay.com is an online auction and shopping website on the internet where people and businesses all over the world buy and sell a huge variety of goods and services across the globe. It is the worlds online marketplace where the buyers and sellers can come together and trade almost anything and everything. As their slogan says What ever it is, you can get it on eBay. The online buyers and selle rs can make a lot of money on eBay. On 2010, this online auction company had revenue of US$ 9.156 billion and a net income of US$ 1.801 billion. More than hundreds of thousands of sales or even millions are made each and every day worldwide, which results in a huge amount of income for a lot of sellers that are registered on this web site. eBay is a multilingual site where they are operating each of every country in the world. Even with this huge number of people that are already there, there is still room for the others who want to get involved. This involvement can be to earn some part time cash or may be set up an entire new full time business on the side. Below are some important discussions on how to make money online on eBay. Starting to make money online with eBay It involves a simple work to get started with the task of earning money on eBay. Once the user is registered up for the free account, the best and the easiest way to get a feel of what selling is like is to auction off some of the personal items that the user does not want any more. EBay is a marketplace which is vast and where the best items can be sold at the best price. To be sold at a good price these need to be combined with a unique, descriptive and thorough listing. Titles that are vague titles and inadequate descriptions will generally lead to low selling prices. The best way to make a lot of money is by making the item real and creating a complete and honest list which will lead to a higher amount of sales. You must also maintain a positive and high reputation as a seller so that buyers will have confidence in buying your products and in doing business with you. Selling on eBay The main advantage that eBay offer is that the user can actually sell anything and everything online. Right from an old used t-shirt to a new model of a mobile phone. You can even sell a website or just a domain name. EBay has much better offers for its customers as compared to any other web sites in this particular category. The users can create an online store for their products. It takes hardly any time for developing

this online store. The users can add pictures, captions and descriptions for the products. This store turns out to be a good online business and may help in keeping a track of the sales. One thing that that has to be taken care of while doing business on eBay is investing in the right kind of stock. Wrong investments can lead to huge capital losses if the stock does not get sold off. It is necessary to engage in some kind of research before deciding what kind of products can be sold by the users on eBay. This is usually the only risk that the users have. EBay also offers the affiliate marketing programs which can be a good option for making money online for those people who do not want to invest in the stock of new products as also for those who do not have any old items to sell off. These programs help in gaining search engine optimization as well. So if you want to earn some good cash online and if you have something of value that you can sell or put in an auction on the Internet, you can try eBay. Always remember that making money is not always easy. However, with the right knowledge, prudence and experimentations, you can actually gain a decent amount of money without much pain.

How to Make Money Online from Content Writing

Posted: 21 Aug 2011 09:11 AM PDT

Quality content is the back bone of any successful website, as well as in promoting online business. So those who can provide good quality content have big opportunity to make money online. If you have a flair for writing and an interest and expertise in some subject of your choice, and you have the ability to express it in words then making money through content writing is the best choice for you. You can never run out of readers if what you provide is good quality content. It is one of the easiest and the most popular freelancing jobs on the internet. There are people out there who are ready to pay a lot in order to get quality and unique kind of contents for their website and other needs. Content writing involves working for merely two to three hours a day and the writers can easily make a good amount of money every month. As compared to the other freelancing jobs that are available, content writing is quite simple and one can easily discontinue with the activity anytime they want. There are various types of content writing jobs that are available online. These include the following online services: Article Writing and Rewriting Article writing or rewriting is one of the most basic forms of content writing. Article rewriting is nothing but rewriting an existing article in order to change the grammar and sentence structure or the word, sentence and paragraph formation. Blog Posting Blog posting is quite similar to article writing, the only difference being that one will have to post this article on someones blog and keep it active. The writers can charge a little more for this than article writing due to the additional work involved. Info Product creation or eBooks writing This is a high paying work. Apart from creating an eBook, the writers will also have to give it the right kind of content. Extra cost can be charged for images, banners, design and eBook cover design. Press Release Writing A press release is something similar to a news article and there are some strict considerations that need to

be taken care of while writing a press release. For instance the article should not come out as if it is an advertisement nor should it address the reader directly. Press Releases also get paid well. Copy writing Copy writing is the highest paying writing job. Copywriters are usually paid a lot for single sales letter due to the work involved and the quality of the content. Product Reviews and Descriptions Product reviews or descriptions describe the product or services. In internet marketing, most of the product review requirements include info of products. Thus, it may need that you actually try to use or consume the product you are reviewing. Forum Posting Forum posting involves commenting on a given forum with the related information so that the forum appears to be lively. This job is low paying, yet quick and easy. Proof Reading and Editing Proof reading and editing involves reading and correcting the mistakes in the articles written by someone else. It can be plain grammatical mistakes or spelling mistakes or even mistakes in the subject of the articles. Apart from these there are other forms of content writing that involves writing jobs like medical writing, technical writing, legal writing, ghost writing, translation, medical transcription etc. Remember to write what you really know. It is better to write on topics where you are expert of. Doing research is also a plus. The great thing in this kind of job is that you earn, while you learn.

How to Make Money Online from Commission Junction

Posted: 21 Aug 2011 07:29 AM PDT

Commission Junction or CJ offers affiliate marketing programs, which enables the users to make money online. Commission Junction has been used by a number of people on the internet for making profit online. It is considered to be one of the best paying programs and offers a number of products which can be promoted, and a number of these products offer a good amount of commissions. What makes commission junction stands out as compared to other online businesses is that it caters to the niche opportunities that the other affiliate marketing programs and companies fail to offer. CJ is an online marketplace for a variety of products from tangible to digital products. Furthermore, the products included in the site are ensured that they are of quality unlike other online market places on the Internet. Through the affiliate programs that are offered by commission junction, a lot of good cash can be made online. Commission Junction provides opportunities to make money online as the more the advertiser earns on the customers, the higher will be the earning of the user as an affiliate. There are various signups available on Commission Junction that allows the users to earn a few bucks for just customer information like an email or a physical address. These are the small sign up options that are available online and do not require any prior payment. These are known as the CPA or the cost per action events. There are certain insurance and the credit card companies that offer a lot for getting the sales leads with the potential clients name or address or the phone number. 1. It is one of the best affiliate marketing programs available. There are a number of products available

which pay on a regular basis for all the sales that are made by the users. 2. There various types of products available on Commission junction that can be used to sell and make money online. Only the best products are added to this site and this makes the web site stand out as compared to its competitors. 3. The commission junction affiliate marketing program is relatively simple and all that is required to be done is to register as a member and then simply start promoting the products. There is no particular registration criteria such as providing the credit card number etc. 4. The commission junction affiliate marketing program comes for free and there is no need to pay anything to become a member of this site. Since the users are able to reap benefits through the commission junction affiliate marketing program without the need to pay any money for this effort, it is one of the most preferred option for potential members. Commission Junction basically works as a middleman between the publishers and the advertisers. There are numerous ways in which the users can make money online through commission junction: 1. Pay Per Leads: Most of the businessmen on commission junction will be willing to pay for each and every person who registers on the web sites who has been sent by this user. This essentially means that the user will get paid every time a person fills the form with their basic personal information. 2. Pay Per Sale: There are those other merchandisers who pay a percentage of the commissions that are generated from every sale made from the web sites. Making money online with Commission Junction affiliate programs, though it may sounds easy, needs a lot of hard work and experimenting. Just like any other online businesses, one should have focus and target the best scheme that works for her or him. To be successful, online entrepreneurs should always bear in mind to choose and promote the product that he really use and effectively works for him.

How to Make Money Online with ClickBank

Posted: 21 Aug 2011 06:29 AM PDT

ClickBank is one of the biggest networks that offer affiliate marketing programs. By making use of ClickBank, people can make money online through earning commission income from lead sales or from every sale they have made from a certain product they promote. It allows the users to sell digital products by making use of their services through creating and affiliating programs to get groups of online salesmen for the products. This company has been the most successful company in the field of internet marketing and a number of people are making a lot of money with them. All that the users have to do is just register by opening an account. The users can see how they can make money online after a month by writing useful articles, creating a user-targeted blog or website, promoting these to social sites, email marketing and other schemes, as it does not involve PPC (pay per click) or paid ads. Any kind of business, be it an online business or otherwise, is dependent upon repeat customers. It needs to have a continuous and repetitive flow of customers. They cannot survive solely on the first time customers only. The affiliate marketing programs also need a repetitive flow of customers in order to flourish. A person who buys something on ClickBank can maybe buy another one.

Ways to make money online through ClickBank: 1. The first method in making money online through this company is by using it to promote the product. In this case, the main advantage is that they serve as an affiliate program manager and also help in recruiting the affiliates in order to promote the product. All that is to be done is tell them what percentage of the sale the users are willing to pay to the affiliates and then ClickBank takes care of the rest. 2. The second method of making money with ClickBank is by becoming a registered member to promote other person or company products. This can also be a great way to take a decision regarding the type of industry the user might wish to get in. Once the user Logs on to ClickBank, he will find a number of products which are there for online promotion. The users can chose the product that they want to market depending on their choice. They can market one single product or even multiple products. The next step once the user decides upon a particular product is to finalise the best offer for this product and develop a web site around it. This web site will help people in their making and buying decisions and thus customers will also trust you and start buying the products through the various affiliate links which are present on the website. One of the most important things that the users need to take care of is creating a good review of all the products. It is very easy to create good content which can make the web site search engine optimised. With the search engine optimization, the ranking of the web site improves and thus there is an increase in the traffic to the website. This turns out to be a good long term method for effectively making money through affiliate marketing. Stay tuned for our next updates and posts about making money online through Clickbank. We will also publish successful stories from people who have already earned lots of money from Clickbank.

How to Make Money Online at Amazon

Posted: 21 Aug 2011 05:35 AM PDT

Amazon was one of the very first to successfully established their online business on the internet. Amazon.com is a very well known store for electronics, apparels, computers, books, DVDs and much more on the internet. Amazon caters to a wide range of products. People can find almost everything on this website, which also provides a good shopping experience. It is a very profitable online business. This web site delivers services very fast and it is also secured and highly trusted. The following will guide you on how to make money online at Amazon.com. There are two main methods in which the users can make money on Amazon: 1. Selling products online: The users can sell their products online through the Amazon website and earn money. The only thing that is to be kept in mind is choosing the right kind of products. Selection of the right product is the only possible risk as if the right product is not selected there is a risk of losing your capital or money invested. 2. Another way of earning money through this web site is by engaging in affiliate marketing: By joining the affiliate marketing program of Amazon, the users can earn money by way of commission for every product that they sell on the website through them. There is nothing to lose in this case except the time that is invested in doing so. This turns out to be the safest and the best way to make money online Apart from this, the users can also sell their own products at Amazon which can turn out to be quite

profitable most of the times. For novices it is always better and easier to start off on the basis of affiliate marketing. By this method, these beginners can get well acquainted with the way the site works. As an Amazon affiliate, there is no need for big capital or cash investment for any products to start making money. With Amazon there is also a scope for making money online by focusing on marketing and also on sending more traffic to your website. Amazon makes the users feel safe with each and every transaction made by them. Heres the step by step process for Affiliate Marketing with the Amazon web site: 1. The user needs to sign up in order to join the Amazon Associates Program. This is absolutely free and a simple process. 2. There is a huge variety of products that are available on Amazon. The user needs to browse through these products. These can be found on the Amazon catalogues. These products include anything and everything such as Nintendo, PS2, Clothes, Laptop, Mobiles, MP3 gadgets, Books, a pet dog, Weight loss, Amazon Kindle, etc. If the user has a specific product in mind that he wants to promote, he can simply get it from the control panel. 3. The user then needs to determine a particular subject. If the topic of the website is something to do with a particular search term such as dog training, real estate, etc., the user can simply build his own link and also put on it the menu for the recommended products. 4. lf the user is interested he can also think of building his own store. 5. Lastly the user needs to add traffic to the web site and promote it. Just like any other making money online schemes, anyone who desires to really earn cash on the Internet should be patient, innovative and passionate in experimenting various ways that can really work for him or her in terms of generating profit. Thus, it also takes hard work and consistency to succeed making money online at Amazon. How about you, have you been successful and profitable with Amazon.com? If yes, then we will be glad to hear from you.

The social media marketing efforts are showing there worth for effective promotion of the business in the present marketing scenario. Most of the big companies are seeing the potential of these sites for attracting new customers for their products and services. These social networking sites can work very well for attracting traffic to the web sites when used in the right way. These definitely work better than the traditional way of online marketing by sending emails. In this article, we will discuss how to use Twitter to promote your online business. Using Twitter as an online marketing tool Twitter is a social networking site that lets the users stay in touch through an exchange of simple questions and answers which are repeatedly asked over the internet. It is like a micro-blogging service which allows the people to send small messages or tweets, which are limited to 140 characters, to all the followers and also permits the user to open that thread of messages to a larger grid of people. Twitter has also become a good option for directing traffic to the web sites. Many companies successfully mine potential customers by making use of this social networking site in the right way. What the users of twitter usually do is follow the Tweets. When the business people manage to make their tweets interesting and worth reading, they are able to successfully send their messages through to the people they want to target. The loyal customers of these products and service make the announcements and in turn promote the product or service. This also helps in increasing the brand awareness as a great deal of public interaction takes place over twitter. Twitter also comes with a search function which helps in managing the reputation of the online business. Increasing your Twitter followers

There are various internet marketing programs that help in advertising on twitter in order to increase traffic. Twitter is all about following the tweets. If you follow someone they will in turn follow you. There are online programs available that help the users in auto following tweets which will in return have a mirror effect. Thus with a rise in the number of twitter followers, effective marketing can be done online which will increase the website traffic to a great extent. However, one should remember to not abuse Twitter with automatic following, since this can be a ground to suspend or terminate anyones account. Make sure that the number of your followers and the people whom you follow are proportionate to each other. There are also programs which let you un-follow people who are not following you. These are important since at a particular point of time only a specific amount of people can be followed. The frequency of the posts also needs to be controlled. Posting hundreds of times in a day will have the opposite effect and the efforts will go down the drain. One can also find certain programs which help you set the number of times you want to tweet about a product. And you do not even need to log in every single time. These can also work on the auto-pilot mode. However, since Twitter is a social site where people interact, it is better to still socialize like a true human and not a robot. To make real friends and loyal followers, one should ensure to always share tweets which are useful and personalized. The importance of an attractive profile Apart from this, an attractive profile with a catchy username also helps a great deal. Good pictures prove to be appealing. Twitter also offers badges to the users that can be inserted on the website so that the visitors on the websites can view the activities on twitter and follow the users. Thus twitter can be of great help to drive traffic to your website. And with continuous monitoring new gadgets that are available can be found which will help even more in driving this traffic. You can also put a Twitter button at the bottom of your every page or blog post just like on this page, where you can click to share a useful article to your Twitter followers.

How to Use Google Plus 1 to Promote Your Business Posted: 20 Aug 2011 08:23 PM PDT

Social networking has time and again proven its capability of having a bigger impact than that of

emails. Companies are realising the potential of the social networking sites for attracting new customers. Many of the small and large enterprises are making use of these sites toincrease the traffic to their web sites. Social networks have also taken over the traditional emails in terms of popularity apart from its huge impact on internet marketing. Google + 1 is one new social networking site that can be used for the promotion of the online business. The following are some discussions on how to use Google Plus 1 to promote your business. The Google + 1 button There are various ways in which Google Plus 1 can be used for the promotion of the online business. The first and the foremost are to make posts on Google Plus, which are to be linked to business or the web site. This will help in getting an increasing number of people familiar with the business and what the business is all about. Apart from this Google Plus 1 can be used effectively by simply adding a Google Plus Button to web site. As the number of people who click the Plus Button increases, the web site traffic that the user will get from the social site will also increase. With every click on the button, the web site traffic from the Google search engine will also rise. The Google Plus Circle Another simple thing that needs to be taken care of is that the about page of the profile has complete information of the business. One unique feature that Google Plus 1 offers is the Google Plus Circles. This allows the users to organise the contacts efficiently and also share things with these contacts. By forming a circle of the business clients, the users can post and share any kind of information pertaining to the business with these clients. This information may include certain important links, photos and videos of the business products, latest product reviews and news, promotions etc. Optimizing Google Plus 1 Google Plus also offers various options for customization of the links sidebar on the profile page in order to give even more online exposure to the business blog, e-commerce websites etc. RSS feed URL, links to the Twitter or the Facebook pages etc can also be included. Google Plus also allows the users to share their latest product review videos or the latest video blog with the clients. Client feedback is also extremely important for any business in its infant stage. It also provides a valid proof that the company is a legitimate organisation and that the people who are already using these products and services have rated the level of the service. The posting of all such feedbacks on the Google Plus profile can be of great help for providing the business promoters with credibility and also attract further leads and sales for the business. Thus, if used in the right way, this social networking site can be effectively utilised for the promotion of your business. With the rising importance of online marketing it is extremely important to tap the right kind of sources in order to have the right kind of impact. As you see, there is a Google plus one button at the bottom of this post. You can share this article by clicking on the button and other social networking site buttons below, which also include Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Delicious and Stumbleupon. This is one way to promote your business, product, website or blog online.

How to Use Facebook to Promote Your Small Business Posted: 20 Aug 2011 09:23 AM PDT

Nowadays, an ever increasing number of businesses are making use of Facebook to find new customers, build various online communities of fans and dig into mines of demographic information. Facebook is a social media interface that can be used for different reasons by different people. For most of the businesses, the best places to start are the Facebook Pages which differ from the individual profiles and Facebook groups in many different ways. These pages allow the businesses to collect fans and interact with potential clients and customers that contribute to their growth and success. Hence, it is important for every small business owners and entrepreneurs to learn how to use Facebook to promote their small businesses. Web presence for your business It is very easy to create a Web presence with the help of Facebook even if the companies do not have their own website. The company pages on Facebook can be customized with photos, comments and other useful information. Further, the users can also add videos or various business applications. The pages that portray the true personality of the business turn out to be more successful. The human interaction Facebook is actually less about selling and more about interacting. Engaging with the fans and the critics improves personal relations and makes the pages quite famous. This is extremely important where it comes to successfully mining the potential customers. It is always better to have feedback from the existing customers. The users can successfully pick up ideas for making the business better by improving on the drawbacks. The content of the web page needs to be kept fresh. For this purpose even the status updates and the newsfeeds can be used in order to inform the fans about the specials, events, contests or anything that is of interest to them. Targeted marketing for small businesses Facebook can also enable the small businesses to engage in targeted internet marketing. As the user creates an ad, he can add certain demographic criteria and keywords and see how many

Facebook users actually fit into the target audience and modify and make necessary changes so as to target the right kind of people. The advertisers can pay per impression or per click and can also set maximum budgets and schedule for the ad to run on specific dates. The Facebook ad system provides feedback immediately with metrics such as the number of impressions and the clicks through. Success needs time and patience What is necessary in case of these social media sites is patience. People often leave and switch over when they do not see instant results. In reality therefore, very few companies are successfully exploiting this channel to promote their business. Forming a Facebook fan page is a fantastic way to engage with the public. And if it is done in the right way, it can be a huge success. It is the perfect way to create the necessary brand awareness. Facebook groups also provide a free way to carry out the market research with the help of the polls by the fans and the companies can successfully gauge the reaction of the people to ideas before they are implemented. With more than 750 million active users on Facebook, it is very hard to not be lured in by the great opportunity that it can provide for the business. But it is very important to understand how to use Facebook effectively in order to reap maximum benefits.

Tablet computers are becoming a trend nowadays due to the upsurge started by Apples iPad. Soon enough, clones and derivatives started to flood the market once the bewildered questions regarding the purpose of an oversized iPhone stopped being funny and started to become relevant. As Apple continues to hold tight to their own iPad and the iOS operating system, Google introduced their own mobile operating system, Android. Sooner, one of the biggest technology wars will begin. The tablet market in the Philippines Here in the Philippines, more people are now opening up to tablet computers and their potential in liberating our otherwise grounded perceptions in technology as there are more than just cellphones now in the market. From simple tasks like checking your email to work-related things like data entry and documentation, and even recreation purposes like playing games, listening to music, and watching videos, tablets have made it much better. Therefore, it is important for people to get tips for buying tablet computers in the Philippines. The problem with the tablet computer market in this country right now is that the market is littered with cheap knockoffs from China. They are very cheap, costing as low as PhP 3,000 per unit. However, they are not very well made as they have so little RAM, their processors are not of quality stock, and the Android OS installed in them are most likely not licensed. Therefore, they are mostly waste of your time and money, which you will only realize when you start playing some games and opening some applications. Even turtles can run faster than those things. Apple iOS or Googles Android Therefore, you have to shelf out even more cash than that to actually get a quality tablet computer. The biggest choice is in the operating system. Whether you go Apple or Google, there are various things to consider. What Apples iOS does not have are things like Adobe Flash and an open source market, thus limiting your choices at times. Googles Android gives you that freedom of choice, but at the cost of some quality products that may be iPad-exclusive. Android tablets tend to be more varied since iPads are just what they are, being manufactured by a single company. With multiple manufacturers having access to Android, they are able to put out various products of different shapes and sizes into the market, spoiling customers with choice. This variety has led to a revolution in the mobile market, causing Steve Jobs to start naming names and putting on a warfare amidst this tablet computing and technology war. If you have a big enough budget, just get the iPad and you won t be sorry. But if you want choice and dont have as much cash to shelf out, then consider a 7-inch Android tablet computer. They can be just as good

as their full sized counterparts while being cheaper and more mobile as well. Theyre actually a good fit with the Philippine tech market, so youll see them replace netbooks quite soon. They also have other features like expandable memory, USB connectivity, and so on. That makes them worthy options indeed. In the end, the best choice still lies in your hands. You need to carefully consider all the broad and specific features that are especially built for you. Photo credits to Glenn Fleishman (Flicker Creative Commons image Attribution required).

Tips for Buying Desktop PC Computers in the Philippines

Posted: 18 Aug 2011 05:12 AM PDT

Searching for the perfect desktop computer is no easy task, especially that everyone is spoiled for choice nowadays. However, since the technology has stabilized a bit due to advances both in software and hardware, you wont get as much of the uphill climb of upgrades like during the early 2000s, so youll know that whatever good stuff you will spend your money this time will surely do well for a good span of time. However, it is still important to get some tips for buying desktop PC computers in the Philippines for getting more guidelines. Things you need to consider There are things that should be considered nowadays when choosing and buying your very own desktop computer, such as LCD flat panel monitors, disk writers, large drive capacity, multicore processors, and even the popularity of various brands. When you have these things taken into consideration, all you need to worry about is the tier of the parts you will be procuring for your dream techy machine. Consider your needs and wants with the computer and finetune your specifications for that balance in value and quality. Take note that there are things that are easily upgradable with desktop computers, like Random Access Memory (RAM) and hard drive capacity or storage. Eventually, you can just add in more once you earn extra money, so you dont have to go crazy at the very start. Take what you need, then upgrade as necessary later on. Research for the specs A very good tip to ride on is to go with the specifications from the desktops of your local computer rental shop. If you really want to know, you can either ask the attendants for the specs or just look it up through the computers system properties if the shop does give access. There shouldnt be much of a problem in listing down what they do have since theres no real need to keep it a secret anyway. What those specifications do to help you is to guide you get more affordable parts. Internet cafes typically use computer parts that are very cost-effective in order to make the most of them for their business, so you know that they are good enough parts to hold their own in whatever you want to use them for. Shopping your desktop computer Once you have the specifications, its time to browse the web for various sources first. You can find websites of different popular shops in the Philippines, most of which sell quality brands at competitive prices. Once youre done listing down the best prices, start visiting those shops and every other shop that has similar parts. The great thing about desktop computers is that you can get the parts separately and assemble them as you wish. Take advantage of this and get the best valued parts wherever you can get them.

Shop at places like Greenhills and Gilmore in Metro Manila, which are reputed for their computer stores with extensive inventories full of nothing but the best in the Philippines. There are other such places all over the Philippines, and that will take some searching. It is all worth the effort though, so no worries. You can always ensure that the equipment you are buying has enough periods for warranties and it offers a reasonable span of time for free services when it comes to repairs and maintenance. He nce, dont hesitate to ask the desktop computer supplier or authorized dealer that you choose. Finally, do not support software piracy!

When you have finally decided to buy a new laptop, the next decision to make involves what you do with your money. Of course, you want to get your moneys worth and own the best laptop possible. However, there are many factors involved in this process. This article was written to guide Filipino consumer with tips for buying a new laptop in the Philippines. Mobility and portability The very first thing to note is the issue of portability. Laptops are designed to be mobile, so you better make sure that what you get is light enough for your purposes. Consider how you will normally transport the laptop from place to place. Also consider the medium of storage and transportation into consideration due to a number of factors, including safety of the laptop from physical damage and theft. If you dont really need to take a computer outside your home, then you might as well buy a desktop instead. Knowing the specifications Take a look at the hardware specifications and decide on whether they are suited to your needs. You may get a multi-core powerhouse since thats cool, but that will have a shorter battery life than a less powerful version that can probably do the job just as well for you. While benefits are hard to not obsess about, consider your fundamental needs first and seek to satisfy them first and foremost. What you may want to take note of the most in this case is the size of RAM, which dictates how quickly and efficiently programs can be run and processed. You may also want other things like wi-fi and a disk writer, which are usually included with modern laptops. Why not try second hand laptops? Consider second hand laptops before going nuts for new ones. If you want one just for things like internet browsing or work, then there is no real need for something like a gigantic gaming laptop. You can get something that is almost as good as a brand new model, but much less expensive. There are various online and newspaper classifieds where you can search people who are selling laptops on cheaper price. If you still have some money left over in your budget due to the savings you have patiently kept for times, then you may spend them on various upgrades, which is a good bonus. Learning ergonomics Ergonomics is also an issue to consider, especially for laptops mainly used for work. Repetitive stress injuries are a genuine concern that turns normally sedentary work into something that is just as bad as more labor-intensive work due to the seriousness of such physical conditions. Carpal tunnel syndrome is something that can require surgery, so do what you can to prevent that from happening, including having the best ergonomics possible with your laptop. Take a look at the keyboard and make sure that it is comfortable for your hands and wrists in order to minimize the possibility of damage. The power in your battery One of the most important components of the laptop is the battery, which provides power when the device is unplugged. Check the estimated battery life and make sure that it is at least somewhat new since older batteries are on their way to becoming flat. Laptop batteries can be quite expensive as they are unique to each manufacturer and model, making it quite tedious to purchase new ones. There are many more things that you can do in order to grab the best laptop that you can get for your money here in the Philippines. There are a few locations that are regarded as tech centers in major cities, and it is wise to start from those places as they would have lower prices and high quality customer service waiting for you.

Tips for Buying a Condo Unit in the Philippines

Posted: 17 Aug 2011 11:25 PM PDT

The process concerned when buying a condo unit in the Philippines has been no different from purchasing a townhouse or a house and lot. One of the most essential considerations when looking for a unit is the location. Provided the heavy traffic in the Philippines each work day, it has been ideal to take into account the proximity of the condo to your work place, school or business. Also, i ts good to take into consideration buying a condominium near commercial districts that has easy access to malls, schools, offices, hospitals, restaurants and churches. A condominium unit is also a good investment when youre into investing in real estate properties. Here are some useful tips to consider when acquiring a condo unit in our country. Price and location consideration Bear out your price range for condo unit as well as your location preferences. There are lots of condos available on major cities nearby suburban areas, mostly in Metro Manila. Uptown areas have much cheaper charges. Top commercial districts in Metro Manila, such as Makati and Ortigas areas typically offer the much more lavish condos. On the other hand, they cost much higher than any other places as well. For example, the smallest condominium unit in Makati could cost for no less than PHP 3.5 million, while the more pricey ones can go as high as PHP 10 million. For a condo unit in an uptown area or district, a condo typically costs somewhere between PHP 800,000 to PHP 4 million. Condo financing Compare your alternatives for the mode of imbursement. You might buy in cash; apply for bank loan, Home Development Mutual Fund and Pag-IBIG Fund or even a private loan provided by real estate developer for their lands. Get in touch with the agent and then provide your basic necessities such as your budget, preferred locations and terms of payments. Schedule personal site checks to begin scouting for your primary condo preferences. Utilities and amenities Take videos and photos of every prospective condominium unit for your orientation. Confirm other details for each one such as: utilities and condominium amenities; condo unit rules and regulations, monthly association fees and other charges for safekeeping, as well as the parking space allotment. Purchasing a parking space usually costs additional PHP 100,000 to PHP 600,000. Developers might provide parking space fees payable for each month as well. Review your videos, photos and significant detail about your prospective condo units. Cut down your choices while taking into account every important features of the purchase: payment terms, budget, reputation of the developer, condo facilities, parking space, location, and miscellaneous fees. Other things to be considered Take into consideration your needs when looking for the kind of condominium unit you like to buy: one bedroom (or with additional bedrooms), studio type, loft (bi level) or a penthouse. The bigger the floor area, the more costly the condo unit turns out. Lots of condos in the Philippines provide options for fully furnished condo units, meaning every basic furniture, fixtures and appliances have already been there as piece of the package. Complete the purchase by clearing up all legalities as well as financial contracts with the developer and your agent. Prepare all necessities for condominium title, the deed of sale, and payment of taxes on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

How to Save Money on Your Wedding

Posted: 17 Aug 2011 09:43 PM PDT

Do you want to know some ways to save money on your wedding? Then this article is for you. Make sure to make the day of your marriage special for your bride or your groom. One of the most essential decisions you would make for the great day is the place of your feast. Are you searching for a place that has wonderful sights, or are you an indoor individual? Before you search, go to every location to inquire for pricing, discover your preference hence you can charge it against the costs you have been quoted. Inquire and compare One of the ploys that people look to utilize is to provide you a very low price to have your attention. When you inquire further, the whole thing will appear to cost more. That is why, it is better to set out to the venues quite a few different times. In the first trip, let them provide you the sales talk thus you grab a feel for what is available as well as to find a quote. Then collect all the info and comprehend what you had like on your wedding. And when you have a broad idea, create a list with the whole thing you had like for your wedding and then go back and inquire for the price. If not, you would never be proficient to compare the apples to apples. Wedding planner or wedding coordinator? There have been wedding coordinators and there have been wedding planners. The planners assist you plan your marriage before the wedding ceremony, while the coordinator would help you systematize what takes place on the wedding day. The majority of wedding planners would do both, so be sure you make out what precisely you have been paying for. And to those who have financial plan concerns, dont use the wedding planner as everything could be done by you. On the other hand, coordinators have been money well-spent as he/she would help ensure all particulars are executed on the wedding day. Saving money on flowers Flowers make the whole thing look better and the vendors know this. That is why they would charge you further if you inform them it is for wedding. In its place, talk to the wedding coordinator as well as to your married friends and see if they know wholesale flower marketplace where the sellers themselves go. When there have been ones around on your area, you could just go there and then buy them by yourself. Photos and memories There could be people who would take photographs at no cost as well as there are individuals who you could spend the rest of your life with their work as they ask for an arm and legs. Look, good pictures are worth each penny because you would be looking on your wedding photos for years so look for a person who could take those kinds of shots. Anything over that is perhaps so much for you if the budget is a concern. These are few ways which you could do to save money on your wedding. Is there anything else you have been wondering about? You could share your thoughts to help other readers.

Tips for Buying a New Car in the Philippines

Posted: 17 Aug 2011 09:07 PM PDT

One of the most intimidating things to do in the capitalist world is to buy a new car. The sheer amount of money involved makes even the hardest of men turn into jelly, and with good reason. There are so many choices and configurations involved with cars that the normal human brain can never really decide on anything concrete in a short span of time. Therefore, it is necessary that everyone looking for a new car will be oriented with some tips for buying a new car in the Philippines. Consider used cars First and foremost, consider second-hand cars before you really jump the gun to a brand new model. There are a good number of advantages with buying a used car, including the lack of need for breaking it in and a lower price. Of course, there is considerable risk in buying cars that have already been owned by other people, but that can be alleviated through some smart choices. One of the most basic is to read reviews about that particular model and see if they have a reputation for reliability. That should ease your worries for even just a bit. Fuel consumption Whether you get a brand new or used car, fuel economy is a top priority criterion. Take note of your needs above everything else, even if the urge to get the best looking thing is irresistible. If it is just for personal transportation, then a 2-door coupe is enough, while a 4-door sedan is more for people who would take in passengers on a regular basis. You may get bigger cars when you need to, but that is just about what you really need. The smaller and lighter the car, the more you will save on fuel and other running costs. Selling and trading the car in the future Make a well research on the models value and depreciation rate. A car is not exactly something that you can fit into your pocket, so you have to find a way to get rid of it once you either have no use for it anymore or just want to replace it with a newer one. In fact, the rule of the thumb is that you should be ready to sell a car off after around five years or so in order to get the most resale value out of it. If a car had depreciated to more than half the original price by that time, you know that you have gotten a bit of a bad deal. Ask from the experts Always get second opinions from those who know a lot more about cars than you do. They would have the experience that you can make the most of during the process of buying one. They will tell various things about different models and brands that you must know in order to prevent any sort of malfunction or annoyance once you do own one. They may also know certain places where you may get a good deal, so it should not hurt to ask at all. There are online communities or online forums of people who owned different kind of cars and people who share and exchange their ideas and experiences about cars and automobile on the Internet. You can join them and ask anything about buying, choosing a brand, selling and just anything about cars. There are other things that you can do in order to get the best value out of your hard-earned money, including getting the best car loans and so on. The Internet is a great resource for these things, so try to browse around and shop for something more than just a tin can with an engine in it. acebook is considered as one of the greatest online social sites to show yourself or even promote your business on the Internet. The fan page of Facebook is also an excellent method to increase your social media exposure. It permits you to link with the online community anytime and anywhere. If you are an

online entrepreneur, internet marketer, or just want to meet as many people as you can online, the following are some tips on how to increase your online friends on Facebook. Patience, prudence and planning First, you have to add your closest friends. You can also invite your friends and relatives who dont have an account yet on Facebook. Like what you know, Facebook could be quiet strict at times, and you do not like to be banned. Increasing your friends has been an important marketing tactic as they could become a potential traffic for your website or online business. Thats why its good not to add lots of people at just one time. Our advice is to be patient and grow your friends count gradually rather than hastily. Remember that real friends are not easy and quick to find. You do not want to haste adding 200 friends immediately. You could be banned in Facebook more or less 60 days or your account could even be suspended or terminated. It is also essential that you plan and target the friends you will add in your personal profile. For example, if you want to promote a niche about health and wellness, then target the people who are health conscious. This is because they are the ones who will find your shared contents and information useful. Connecting to your other social networking site accounts Second, connect the Facebook fan page to your social media site accounts. For instance, if you have lots of followers in Twitter then you could lead them easily to your Facebook supporter page by just tweeting it or just by adding it as the main URL in account settings part. Another great method is to connect with the influence of YouTube. Like you might already know, some YouTube celebrities such as Kevin Jumba as well as Ryan Higa just became what they have been today as they produced high-quality videos. If you have been able to accomplish the same (its worth investing one or two hundred dollars for good video cam) and draw out a good reply from the YouTube audience then lots of the views would convert to your increasing fan page number. Creating a community Thirdly, create a community with your Facebook supporter site. You could get a discussion board, contest, or even anything that involves the actual user. Beginning a contest has been a great marketing way if you could reward the winner by a decent reward. There is a great reason why there have been lots of fan pages along with thousands of members. For instance, the Liverpool fan page gave a signed t-shirt contest for some certain designing competition. Some businesses want to use friend referral form to gain much more fans. For instance, those who referred most friends will get a certain award for every month. There are tons of benefits of having thousands of Facebook friends but keep in mind that you know them personally before adding them up. Finally, always remember that after they have confirmed you as their friend, you should act as their responsible and helpful friend. Hence, always express whats on your mind the things that can be helpful and useful to them, be its a photo, video, article or just a brief personal expression.

This country can be considered a cell phone nation as it is not just a medium of communication, but an actual commodity that has worth. Not only are they useful for connecting with other people, but you can actually learn about economics with it. If you are looking to buy a cell phone, then there are various things that you need to consider. Here are some tips for buying and shopping your new cell phone in the Philippines. Consider the features you really need Consider your needs in a cell phone in relation to how much your budget is. If you only need something for calling and texting, then you dont need much. But if you want to have multimedia feature s and a camera, then you will need to shelf out more cash. Consider the major brands when going for a fullfeatured smart phone. Also take note of the portability of a cell phone as some may be a bit too chunky for your needs. Different models come in different shapes and sizes, so keep your method of storage and transportation in mind. The resale value If you just want a basic cell phone to make texts and calls, then you can look at the lesser known brands if you just want something to use. If you are looking for something with resale value, then go back to the major brands. The smaller brands would be cheaper, but harder to sell later on, so you should go with the more popular ones if you want to sell it off at a later date. Considering smart phones Smart phones are more like computers in that their hardware specifications are a focal point in picking

one. The important specifications are the physical dimensions, operating system, the amount of RAM in that model, and Internet connectivity. You want a smart cell phone that is just the right size with a dependable and widespread operating system, lots of RAM, and with both wi-fi and 3/4G connectivity. Trading cell phones A really cool way to learn about cell phones aside from just using them is to trade them around. Think of them like trading cards or other such hobbies, but cell phones have genuine financial viability. You can challenge yourself to go from a basic cell phone to a hot smart phone over a period of a few months by trading them in at different shops. There are shops all over the Philippines that let you sell or trade in your cell phones. The key is in getting the highest appraisal value you can get for your current phone. With that value, you can add in a bit more money to buy a slightly better cell phone that will be worth more than the previous cell phone when you do sell that one. It may seem like youll actually spend more money by doing this, but if youre someone who wants a smart phone, but does not have the money for it, then this could ease you into getting one. There is so much to experience in buying cell phones, and it does not need to be an intimidating experience. If you can shop for clothes and shoes, then you can definitely buy the right cell phone just for you.

Photos and images are nice and artistic, but the moving pictures are still best when it comes to reminiscing the greatest moments in our lives. Besides, videos capture not only our eyes, but also our ears because of the actual sounds we can hear from them. With todays popular social video sites like Facebook and Youtube, a video camera is a cool tool to capture videos you want to share to your friends online or just to keep something for yourself. If you want to go beyond taking pictures with digital cameras or DSLR cameras, and instead capture live videos, here are several tips and things you need to remember to help you narrow your preferences when buying a video camera in the Philippines. Price Video cameras span the collection from PHP 6490 for some low-end model to PHP 55000 or even more for much sophisticated products. On this range, the PHP 25,000 mark is normally a dividing line among the high-end and rest of the market. You could still have a quality video camera for much less than PHP 25,000. However, most of the highly developed technologies can be introduced on higher price ends. Your Means Think carefully on how you intend on using your video camera. Do you want to have it with you on all times to make a recording of the spontaneous moment, or is it generally for special gatherings? Do you want to have it underwater? The lenses operated in video cameras that are cheap have considerably been substandard to the ones with full featured video cameras. Actually, one way to tell apart between a pocket video camera and a fullfeatured model has been the optical zoom specs. If the video camera doesnt provide image stabilization, or an optical zoom lens, it is probably a pocket version. These video cameras tend to resist in low-light environments as well. The kind of media your video camera uses impacts the weight, battery life, size, performance as well as the whole user experience. Media Format Both normal definition and HD (High-definition) video cameras can record flash memory cards, built-in flash memory and to hard disk drives. Older formats such as mini DVDs and tapes have been all but phased-out. A flash memory-built video camera will be lighter on weight as well as smaller in size than a hard drive-built video camera, but would not provide as much storage space. Core Features Once you have assessed your means, picked the resolution along with the media format, you have to focus on a few additional core specifications. These include: Optical Zoom: When you like to be up close to your subject, you will need a video camera with a high powered zoom lens. The power of the lens is given as the factor of x thus a 10x lens will amplify the subject by the factor of 10. A few zoom lenses could go to 46x and beyond. Photo Features: If you like to leave the video camera behind, you could find cameras with very tough photo capabilities such as a flash, scene modes, exposure controls and burst shooting. Image Stabilization: To keep away from blurred video because of shaking hands, lots of video camera

provides image stabilization. It is an essential specification for long zoom video cameras. Audio Recording: If you want to record your home movies by means of surround sound, there are higher-end video cameras which can record on Dolby Digital 5.1. Remember that video cameras are only tools to record moments. Hence, the most important element of video making still lies on the ones who are making those moments. So make and keep the best moments in life!

Tips for Buying a DSLR Camera in the Philippines

Posted: 09 Aug 2011 10:27 AM PDT

A lot of people fancy themselves to be photographers, and that is alright. Photography is an art form that was made to be more accessible to people, but it does tend to cost a good chunk of money. For those who want more than just an entry level point-and-shoot digital camera, then you will want an actual DSLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) camera that professionals use. Since it is available in the consumer market, you can take a crack at it as well and learn how to be a better photographer, but you will need some tips for buying a DSLR camera in the Philippines. Start from your level of skills Take note that most people who aspire to own a DSLR camera are amateur photographers who take it up as a hobby. With that said, it is best to start off with a more beginner-friendly DSLR that does not kick you in the pants with how much it costs. Thus, consider your starting budget and list down the things you need from having your own DSLR camera. The less you need to buy accessories, the more money you get to spend on your camera. Using a DSLR camera requires a good amount of skill, so you might want to brush up on your knowledge about the device. Nothing irritates actual photographers more than people who use DSLR for the most trivial of things in the most improper of ways. The best tip in buying a DSLR camera is to actually be serious about photography before you get your hands on one. Few things are sadder than the sight of a DSLR gathering dust in some attic. Buying your very own DSLR camera If you are living in Metro Manila, you may want to check out a particular place in Quiapo known as Hidalgo Street, which is famous for their stores that sell everything related to photography. The people here are well-versed in photography and prices are very competitive, so you are sure to get most of what you need from this place. If what youre looking for is not in this place, then you will have to look for it online. Online shopping Online items will be more expensive due to various issues like currency exchange rates and shipping costs. However, it is a great source for all thing rare and obscure. If you are really into photography and you want a piece of hardware that you cant find in any corner of the Philippines, then you might as well seek it online. However, this is only for those who are really hell-bent on getting something very rare. It is not recommended to buy anything online in the Philippines because it really costs that much more than getting it from a shop. However, you can try online classifieds where people sell second hand goods, including DSLR cameras.

While there is a bit of risk involved, the savings you may get for cameras and accessories may be worth your time here. Most of the people selling DSLR cameras here are fellow photographers, so they do not want to scam as much as you do not want to get scammed.

Tips for Buying a Digital Camera in the Philippines

Posted: 09 Aug 2011 08:44 AM PDT

Here in this country, digital cameras are a hot commodity in the tech market. While there are the powerful DSLR cameras that produce great results in the right hands, as well as cellphone cameras everywhere that make casual photography very accessible at the cost of image quality, there are still the dependable point-and-shoot digital cameras for amateur photographers that are still very much in demand. For regular consumers who want more than just a lo-res shot from a cellphone, here are some tips for buying and shopping a digital camera in the Philippines. Choose the camera that fits your needs The best digital cameras are those that fulfill their purpose, just like with any other tool. List down your own necessities and figure out which features you really want in a digital camera. Few things are worse than getting something that has so many features that you wont get to maximize it. Not only are those full-featured cameras more expensive, but they are also bulkier and more liable to various mishaps. While you dont really need to take the bare minimum, you dont need the jam -packed swiss knife of cameras either if you dont actually need it. Take note that in terms of size, you want a balance that suits your lifestyle best. Bigger does not always correspond to higher image quality and smaller does not always mean practical and sleek. Sometimes, you will actually hate the smaller ones since you will have your images blurry and of low quality. Most small cameras do not have a fast enough shutter speed and high enough image resolution. Meanwhile, bigger cameras tend to have features that may try to emulate their higher-end counterparts, which is not really necessary. Digital and DSLR cameras There are prosumer cameras that function like DSLR cameras, for instance. They do have larger and more powerful sensors than the usual point-and-shoot cameras. They are a logical choice for those with a bigger budget, but there are a lot of choices between the top brands. What is good with them is that they can be fitted with various accessories like a real DSLR, although less in variety. However, most point-and-click digital cameras are already more than enough for most consumer needs. You get to take pictures with one in various lighting conditions and most can even shoot video. They come with expandable memory slots and can be powered by standard AA batteries, so they are convenient enough to use. If you are looking for other features like waterproofing and shockproofing, then look for accessories to do the job. Photo editing and enhancement As for image enhancement features, you do not really need them. All you need is a good image editing software to retouch your photos and they will yield better results. Those extra features may be fun to play with, but they only make cameras more expensive while being unnecessary. When it comes to features, you are looking for relevance with your own necessities.

Just like with DSLRs, there are places in the Philippines where you can shop for bargains, like in Hidalgo, Quiapo, Manila. If you have access to such places, then do what you can to shop there if you really want a digital camera. Online classifieds are also helpful in canvassing prices and hunting bargains.

How to build your wealth

Who dont want to be wealthy? Who dont want abundance in valuable resources, such as financial possession, real estate, talents, skills and knowledge resources? Weve all dreamed of wealth. We dont want to be poor and suffer from the culprit of excessive debts. We want to buy the things we want, we want to have the ability to help other people, and we want to share as many things as we can to share to our family, our friends and to our community. Poverty may not be as bad as a crime, but being poor can be a sign of the lack of hard work, self-discipline, education and wisdom. When youre poor, you might face lots of troubles in this world where people are so attached to the material things. Therefore, creating spiritual or material wealth is an essential as making your world and life revolving. The following discussions will guide you on how to build your true wealth.

Find a great seed

Have a great cause for creating your wealth. Ask yourself why do you want to be wealthy? Make sure that your honest answers are based on great principles. If you are only aiming to acquire wealth to become famous, to have something to boast or to buy things extravagantly, then you should hesitate to continue. This is because those purposes are weak and shallow. You will never build true and lasting wealth on those causes. Instead, have a great purpose in building your wealth. The wealthiest people in the world have created wealth and riches because they aimed to help and make the lives of people better. Remember that Bill Gates of Microsoft became wealthy by co-inventing the Windows an invention that opened the windows of many people to the world.

Dig deeper

Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources, whether tangible or intangible possessions. Abundance is something that is overflowing something great, tall and big. Moreover, wealth is like a giant tree that continuously bears fruits. Thus, you need to implant it deeply within yourself. You need to value it greatly. You should value it like you value your life. You need to plant your great seed deeper into your heart and mind. If you will plant your seed deeper, youre roots will grow de eper and stronger. Hence, you will have a strong stand on your will despite of trials and troubles that you may face along the way. But how will you establish that seed deeply and strongly into yourself? The answer is knowing thyself. You need to know who you really are. And not only that, you must also know the best of what you are. Therefore have enough time to assess yourself, your skills, talents, principles in life, your strengths and weaknesses, and your rooms for improvements. The more you will know and understand yourself, the deeper you will establish your will to create wealth. Just think of the college dropouts (Bill Gates of Microsoft, Steve Jobs of Apple, and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook) who became billionaires theyve gained so much success, by knowing themselves, choosing the best that they can be, and maximizing their talents and skills.

Focus and make big sacrifices

When you direct your life to creating wealth, you need to give up other things that you are currently holding on. Remember that you are not just planting grasses, but you are planting a big tree that will give you long-term benefits. Hence, you need to let go your other goals and ambitions that will hinder the building of your wealth. You must concentrate on one thing your best chosen way to achieve you wealth. Once you have defined your great purpose in creating wealth and have determined your best assets, skills and talents, you should focus your time and energy in accomplishing all the steps and procedures to realize your wealth. People live in a world full of opportunities. However, these opportunities arent all good. Most of them are distractions which can prevent you from attaining your real goal. Consider Bill Gates again for example.

Completing college in a prestigious university like Harvard is a great accomplishment, but Gates sacrifice that big opportunity in exchange to a bigger opportunity, that is, starting their software company that eventually became one of the greatest companies in the world Microsoft Corporation.

Get help

Making great things or creating abundance is a difficult task that needs the help of other people. Building a big dream or desire needs a lot of helping hands. Thus, you dont need to do it alone. Instead, you should get people to help you. Remember that people who became so wealthy have built an army to build their empire of wealth. You cannot conquer a colossal thing alone. Therefore, you need to become a leader a leader of yourself and a leader of people. First you need to lead yourself and help it rise as a focused, patient and a diligent person who is determined to succeed his goal. Once you have led yourself in the right path, you are now ready to lead other people to a common goal to build your wealth and to share wealth to others. For example, since businesses and enterprises are the greatest sources of wealth, you need to be a better manager to your workers. You need to motivate and make them happy so that you will earn their enthusiasm in carrying out your business goals. Furthermore, you also need to help your customers so that they will help you generate more sales. The main point here is to help others so that they will also help you. Remember the golden rule: do unto others what you want them to do to you. Also, dont forget to ask help from God ask help by serving Him.

Final thoughts

Creating abundance means you should create something that is big and deep. Just like creating a source of water, the deeper you dig the more water you will have. Thus you need to be established with great purpose, principles and values in creating your wealth. The richest and wealthiest personalities in the world have their own different and specific ways in creating wealth. Some of them acquired wealth through business, while others have earned their wealth through their careers, such as the worlds top athletes and celebrities. However, no matter how different the talents, skills and strategies they have used to acquire their wealth, they have traveled and walked on the similar roads . Theyve travelled on greatness, and theyve brought the same level of focus, diligence, patience, values and principles.

Leaders make change to improve the lives of many people. They lead people and their organization towards the accomplishment of a common goal. They initiate the search for the solutions to our longreigning problems. Leadership is found everywhere. Leadership is essential to the success of a business organization, to the progress of any society, and even to the development of oneself. Thus its very important that everyone should learn and widens his or her knowledge and understanding on how to become a good and a better leader. However, leading yourself and other people is one task that needs great aptitudes and strong dedication to be done effectively and successfully. To achieve success in any kind of leadership, one should have all the qualities of a true leader. Furthermore, he or she must consistently practice those qualities and even live his or her life with them. The following are free leadership articles, stories and resources we have published in this blog to help you become a real and a better leader. 10 Signs that Youre a True Leader This article will give you an assessment of yourself whether you have all what it takes to be a real leader. You will find that being a true leader is hard to attain. However, this is what leadership is all about its all about greatness, and only few people are living on it. What is the Difference between a Manager and a Leader? For better understanding of what leadership and being a leader is all about, this article will give you further insight on that by knowing the difference between a manager and a leader. To give you a quick idea, leadership is a very important part of management. Its even considered the heart of management. How to Lead Yourself to Lead Others Good leadership starts within oneself. Before we can effectively lead or manage other people, we should first learn how to lead ourselves. This article will guide you to effective self-leadership. One of the steps it tackles is knowing and finding your inner self.

How to be a Good Leader: Leadership from the Bible The Holy Bible is a compilation of powerful words and scriptures from our Creator. Good leadership and the instructions to becoming a great leader and a servant are both written. Learn wisdom from the heaven and live the life of a good to a great leader. How to Become a Humble Leader Humility is an important attribute of a successful leader. Leaders should learn how to keep themselves humble to keep their followers spirits and morale high. Know how to become a humble leader and understand the other attributes you need to have to preserve the humility in you. How to Unite People in Your Organization Without unity, any organization will not achieve peace and harmony. And without peace and harmony, an organization, such as a business company or a nation, will not attain progress and prosperity. This article will guide you to the ways in uniting the people inside your organization. 25 Powerful Tips to Become a Better Leader This is a list of 25 powerful tips for you to indulge yourself on your way to better leadership. This article will give you knowledge on how to lead your followers and at the same time follow them. This will also teach you how to become a strong yet a gentle leader. Enjoy! 5 Simple Tips to Becoming a Successful Leader We all want success. Success is sweet, especially when that success is enjoyed not only by you, but also by all the people around you. In leadership, we have all the duty and responsibilities in bringing our people and followers towards success. This article provides 5 simple tips to making you a successful leader. How to be a Business Leader There are only few aspiring business persons and entrepreneurs who made it to the top of the business world. Business leaders are rare species. But that doesnt mean, you will not become one of them. Here is an article that will give you some principles and guidelines on how to be a business leader. Quotes and Sayings about Leadership To further develop and deepen your insights and understanding about leadership, here is a list and a compilation of quotations and sayings about leadership from the greatest brains and minds of the great people in our history. We hope that the articles above will help you in your journey towards great leadership. To browse our other free articles and resources published in this blog, please go to and browse our Leadership Category Page. To your leadership success!

Leadership is applied whenever we want to achieve success. Good leadership is essential for a country to progress, for a team to achieve victory, for an army to win a war, and for every organization to accomplish a common goal. In an economy, all businesses share one common goal, that is, to bring wealth to a nation. Although businesses compete, they also cooperate in attaining national and global economic growth. However, there are exceptional enterprises and companies that lead the way to that objective. There are outstanding business owners and successful entrepreneurs who lead the march in shaping the better lives of people. They are the business leaders. Business leaders top their industries, and they are leaders not only in terms of assets and profits, but also in terms of improving the lives of many people. If you want to be one of them, here are important tips and steps on how to be a business leader.

1. Be the first

Be creative, innovative and a catalyst of change. Find out what people are looking for and what they really need. Provide what is not provided by others. Be unique and extraordinary. Business leaders are the ones who are willing to search the highest mountains or the deepest oceans to find a solution to a problem that is not yet solved. If you want an example of creativity and innovation, you will learn from Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple, Inc. the creators of iPhone and iPad.

2. Be the best

Be competitive and be consistent. The business world is full of competition, and if you want to be the winner, you need to be diligent and consistent. Many companies, even big corporations, suffer failure.

They may succeed, but their success is only temporary. Eventually, they fail and never rise again. Being the best is a constant practice that should be observed by businessmen. It involves knowing your competition and your competitors. It also includes knowing yourself, which we will discuss in the following paragraph.

3. Be a leader of yourself

Leading any organization, such as a business organization, needs self-leadership. To be a business leader, you should learn how to lead yourself to the right path. You need to have self-control and discipline. You need to learn how to lead yourself away from temptations, such as greed, indolence, dishonesty and other negative attributes that bring anyone to failure. You should also learn how to overcome your fears. You can get rid of fear by earning confidence through strategic planning and increasing your knowledge, understanding and insights of the future ahead.

4. Be cooperative

Achieve a common great goal. Just as we discussed in the introduction, businesses share common goals, such as providing quality and satisfaction to customers, providing more jobs and contributing economic growth. To be a business leader, you should enthusiastically cooperate and help in achieving these goals. Besides, if you help your customers and the public, they will also help you in terms of profitability and stability in the long run. Remember that your sales and revenues are in the hands of your customers. Also, your business integrity and reputation depend on what the public says.

5. Be a better manager

A successful business organization is composed of successful people: its leader or manager and its followers or subordinates. Thus, becoming a business leader needs great management skills and characters to motivate and influence his people to help him achieve their common objectives. To become a better manager, one should set himself as a role model of a good organizational member. He should obey the organizational rules, protect the interest of the entire organization, admit his own mistakes, share the benefits that are due to others, and have the dedication to bring the entire organization to success. Bear in mind that both managers and their subordinates are considered members of an organization or a team. Thus, leaders are also responsible for becoming loyal and good members.

6. Be lasting and deep

Leaders are greatly principled people. Their deep principles are what making them distinct from other business persons. If you want to be a business leader, you should have principles that are catered for greatness, such as the essence of love, self-sacrifice, generosity, joy, peace and the truth. These are the things that business leaders want to achieve. They are idealistic and hard to attain, but they are righteous and lasting. That is why leaders make a very difficult yet concrete and strong stand on them. If you want to lead in the business world, you should have a deep root and a powerful stand on those great principles.

7. Be thankful

Lastly, be grateful in life. The persons who lead in the real market and the business world are those that have material contentment. They are truly happy persons that are more people-oriented or customeroriented rather than financial profit-oriented. The thankfulness that is within them makes them happy and passionate to do business for the sake and welfare of others. They become inspired to serve and satisfy their stakeholders, which include customers, employees, co-owners and the society. Finally, happy consumers, workers and the public recognize and promote their business in return. If you want to be a business leader, lead the lives of people towards success. When I say people, they include your customers, workers, investors, creditors, co-owners, the community, the world and you. vqaj

Leadership must begin in oneself. Before we can effectively lead other people, we must first learn how to effectively lead ourselves. Consider the following questions. How can you motivate others if you cant even motivate yourself? How can you move other people if you cant even move yourself? How can you develop others if you dont have personal development? The leader is the head of the body, and if the head is weak, the body also weakens. Hence, you must learn how to lead yourself to become a better leader.

Leadership and selflessness

Starting leadership from yourself may sound selfish but the truth is it is the opposite of selfishness, and it is what we called selflessness. Yes it is, and its because leadership is a thing that isnt material. When a person desires spiritual things for himself, such as his own kindness, he becomes selfless. This is in contrast to a person who desires too much material things for himself, such as money, where he becomes selfish and greedy. The reason is that a spiritual thing like kindness is an infinite and eternal thing than can be shared to everyone without exhaustion. Of course money and other material things are limited and cannot be shared to everyone without coming to an end. It must be understood that when you desire good and spiritual things for yourself, which cannot be seen, you are also making yourself spiritual a self who is invisible. That is the reason why a person becomes selfless. Just like when you are giving your money and time to the poor, you are actually giving generosity to yourself. When you give respect to others, youre actually giving respectfulness to yourself. And when you are prioritizing the welfare of other people, youre also actually prioritizing kindness and helpfulness for yourself. This selflessness is very important in learning leadership of ourselves.

Leading yourself to lead others

Leading other people needs diligence, patience, humility, understanding and other great virtues of leadership. And who are supposed to produce those virtues? Of course its you yourself. That is what leadership is all about; to be a leader is to be the first to serve. The leader, as a head, should be the root of creation and the catalyst of every action. Leading yourself is just the same with leading other people. They are even directly related and interdependent to each other. You cannot lead others if you will not lead yourself. You cant inspire your followers if you will not become an inspiration. A leader of inspiration is an inspired person. Furthermore, you cannot lead yourself without leading other people. You will not inspire yourself if you dont want to serve as an inspiration to others. Did you get the point?

So how to effectively lead yourself?

The first step is to know yourself. Knowing yourself is a process of digging deep inside you. You should discover your principles. Understand that your principles are what forming you as a person. Youve got to have a knowledge, understanding and a clear definition of yourself. Give attention to what you have done and what you are doing. Be silent; reflect, meditate and listen to what your heart is saying. With this, you will identify your strengths and weaknesses. And when you identify them, you should maximize your strengths and minimize your weaknesses. If someone tells you to be yourself, dont just do that right away. Assess yourself first. Is there goodness or righteousness inside you? If theres none, then have those things first. After having them, then thats the time that you can be yourself. In other words, dont be true to yourself if your true self isnt good. To lead is also to follow. So if you want to lead yourself to the right path, you should also follow the right path. If you want to become a diligent, wise, patient and honest leader, you should also follow diligence, wisdom, patience and honesty. Leadership is not only about making yourself a master, but it is also about making yourself a servant. If you want to lead people to unity, peace and prosperity, then you should master how to unite people, how to be peaceful, and how to prosper in life. You will lead yourself by mastering the things that will bring you lasting success and by serving others which include other people and yourself. Its not really a matter of whether youre a leader or a follower, whether youre a master or a servant, and whether its about people or about yourself what matters is whether you are right or wrong. -vqaj

How to persuade your customers to buy your products? When your products and brand are new in the market, you will find yourself asking that question. Your profitability and the life of your business depend on the sales generated from your customers. Thus, you might need to do everything to convince them to consume your goods or services. But everything should not be done. Instead, you should only do the things that are right to achieve your sales goal. Here are important tips to persuade your customers to purchase your products.

Have a good cause

Telling something is the same as delivering something. Although your way of telling matters a lot, what matters most is the thing inside what you tell. If you want to persuade people to buy your products, you must have a good product. Your product is what customers are paying for, and not your flowery and enticing form of promotion or sales talk. That is why the first step to convince people to purchase your product is to produce a product of value and quality. Persuasion cannot stand alone; it must be supported with a good cause and a good process of production.

Tell the truth

If you are producing quality products and offering excellent services, there is no need to lie and exaggerate just to attract buyers. What you only need is to tell the truth about your products. With the light and the truth in your hands, you can encourage customers to ask questions, and answer them confidently. That confidence you have in your words will also give confidence to your customers, who will eventually trust you and buy your products. I have an experience in selling a website. Buyers are so doubtful to buy my website because they think that the traffic and ranking it got will suddenly drop after the sale. But because I know the website I am selling, and that I have developed it with quality contents and promote the site with quality links, I positively and confidently negotiated the site by encouraging questions even if those questions are somehow offensive that they tested my credibility. But in the end, the buyer clearly felt the confidence and honesty inside me. The end was a successful sale.

Show the effect

Of course actions speak louder than words. Thus, if you have a good cause, show your customers that your cause has also a good effect. Its like showing your good roots that they are indeed bearing good fruits. There are many ways to do this. You can offer free samples to your customers so they will taste and experience your products. You can also choose a few consumers to freely consume your goods or use your services, and then ask them to give testimonials or reviews. If you indeed have a reliable product, your testimonials will also become positive. These testimonials and manifestations from people who have tasted your products are great ways to persuade customers to buy from you.

Start a long-term relationship

Finally, people are skeptical not only in the short-term but also in the long-term. Even if you have a good product, that doesnt mean it will always be perfectly like that. Lets face reality, everyone commits mistakes. However, people or customers are not only looking for a perfect product, but they are also looking for responsible sellers, producers or companies that will always be there for them, ready to help and answer their needs anytime. Buyers dont want to be disappointed on their purchase. If you want to persuade them to buy your products, you should show them that they will not regret doing business with you by keeping in touch and starting a good, lasting and brighter relationship with them. Understand that persuasion doesnt start when we utter the first word, but it starts from the time we create everything that are to be told. Moreover, it doesnt end from the time

we finish our speech, but it still continues in a journey of never-ending process of satisfying our audience and listeners. - vqaj

How to Create a Professional Blog

Posted: 29 Jul 2011 11:09 AM PDT

A blog is a great social medium online where you can share and spread important information about your business, your expertise and your means to help people. Blogging, if done the right way, can also be your tree of wealth, which can generate sweet and constant passive income. Bloggers also gain fame through their popular blogs and blog posts. Yes, there is money, fame and honor in blogging. However, achieving those great things is easier said than done. It takes a lot of hard work, patience, passion, skills, knowledge and professionalism to succeed in the art and science of blogging. Speaking of professionalism, the following are some important tips you should know on how to create a professional blog.

Think and plan professionally

Make a strategic plan for your blog. Define your mission and vision. Create a marketing plan and define the quality and value you will provide to your blogs users. Also make sure to have an effective and efficient blogging platform. When it comes to blog software, WordPress is an award winner. WordPress is free, yet a powerful and flexible blogging platform. It can even be used as an effective content management system (CMS) for a full website. Your marketing strategy should also include the efficiency of your blogs access. To assure that your blog will always be accessible 24/7 online, have a reliable web hosting. When it comes to web hosting, you can check Hostgator.

Have a professional blog design

To make your blog professional, you should give it a professional look. Consider taking the risk of investing some money to have a professional design for your blog. You can hire someone to design for you or if you have some basic web design knowledge, you can purchase a Premium WordPress theme. If you can observe the design of this blog, its blue and white and has a minimalist corporate design which is not obtrusive to its readers. This is a customized theme from Elegant Themes. You can have an unlimited access to all of their professional themes for only $39 a year. To check and purchase an Elegant WordPress theme, please visit Elegantthemes. The blogs design should not also be obstructive with excessive ads. Although blogging can be your source of living, you should always prioritize quality, usefulness and comfort for your blog users. Think of the long-term and lasting benefits if you will become user-oriented rather than money and profit oriented.

Create professional contents

Blog posts are the products of a blog. People visit a blog because of them. Thus, if you want to have a

professional blog, you should also write professional blog posts. This means that you need to write contents where you are expert of. If youre blogging informational articles, dont write articles just because they are whats hot today and they are the ones that will drive instant high traffic. Write articles and stories which you can offer at your best. These kinds of articles may not attract instant traffic, but because they are of high quality, they will gradually give you constant increasing traffic. If youre a financial expert but not so sporty, you should write articles on finance and not on Sports. Remember that a professional blog post includes useful analysis on it. You can hardly give an analysis on financial article if you arent a financial analyst.

Be a professional blogger

The comment or discussion system is one of the distinct features of a blog from other types of website. A professional blogger is one that keeps the discussion alive by answering worthy comments on his blog. A professional blogger also introduces himself in his about page and not hide his face from readers. The blogs honest about page gives visitors the trust and confidence that they are dealing with a real blogger and not a scammer. Finally, a blog is supposed to publish regular contents. That is why a professional blogger should not forget to always update his blog regularly with fresh contents. A seemingly abandoned blog is not a professional blog, right?

Small, medium and big businesses contribute to the economic growth of a country. Good businesses give more jobs, build more infrastructures, and increase national revenue in the form of taxes collected from them. In our country where the rate of unemployment is rising and the economy is not showing significant progress, business entrepreneurs, who take the courage to build their new enterprises, become modern heroes. If you want to be one of them or you are already one of them who are now building wealth for our country, the following are some quick things you should know and learn about doing business in the Philippines. Types of businesses Business in the Philippines can be formed as a proprietorship, partnership or corporation. A single proprietorship is a business that is owned by a single individual who has full control and authority in running this kind of business. A business formed as partnership is a business that is owned by two or more individuals or partners. A corporation is a business that is owned by its shareholders. For more information, please read our article about the different types of business in the Philippines. Registering business name If you are starting a single proprietorship business, you should register your business or trade name with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). If you are starting a partnership or corporation you can directly register your business with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). You may also wish to register your corporate name with the DTI. Some special types of companies may need to obtain secondary licenses or endorsements, such as from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) for pawnshops, banks and other financial institutions. For more details you can read the following articles: How to register trade name with the DTI How to register a stock corporation with the SEC How to register a non-stock corporation with the SEC Local government permit After securing certificate of registration from DTI or SEC, you need to obtain a Permit from the City Mayors Office. The different Philippine Cities or Local Government Units LGUs may ha ve different processes and procedures for getting a Mayors Business Permit. You can read our article How to get a Mayors Business Permit in the Philippines for more information. You can also check where among the Philippine cities are considered the most business friendly cities in the country. Your taxability The next thing to do is to register your business with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the agency

that is responsible for the collection of your income tax, business tax and other taxes which may be applicable to you. You should register with the BIR before you start operation to avoid any future tax problems. Please read our article How to register with the BIR for more details. You may also extend your reading for more important information and guidelines in our Tax Guide Philippines post. Other registrations Every employers and business owners in the country must also remember that the Philippine Government has set out laws to protect Filipino workers. These mandates require businesses and their employees to be registered with the Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PHIC) / PhilHealth, Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) or Pag-IBIG Fund and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). You may also check our quick article on How to register business in the Philippines for more information with regard to registering a business with other government agencies. Achieving business success To be successful in doing business in the Philippines, everyone should have great business, entrepreneurial, managerial and marketing skills. We need to deal wisely with our customers, our employees and even with our selves. As an advice I always give to my readers, the toughest and the worst business rival you can encounter is YOURSELF. Its hard to defy our own greed, laziness and other personal weaknesses. Filipino consumers are loyal customers, especially if we will also become loyal to them by showing that we really care and by providing them with quality products and those products that save lives in this time of economic crisis and financial woes. The Philippines also encourages businesses to maintain their social responsibilities. Corporations are even mandated to observe good corporate governance. Filipino workers are hardworking and dedicated, especially if we become good employers, managers and leaders to them. We must always remember that the universal rule or the ethic of reciprocity is always applicable in any parts of the world. Always bear in mind to do the things that you want other people to do to you. That other people can be your customers, employees, suppliers, investors, creditors and the public. Employees are considered by many as the best assets in business organizations. They are the labor force that contributes to the productivity, as well as profitability and stability of any enterprise. Thus, making employees and workers motivated and happy is a necessity for every employer. Employers, whether individuals or corporations, give their employees benefits in the forms of basic salaries, bonuses and fringe benefits to compensate them for their hard work, promote their health and well-beings, maintain goodwill and or preserve their work efficiency. However, these benefits received by employees become their income, and when there is income, there may also be income tax to be remitted to the government. Generally, compensation income is subject to regular income tax or withholding tax on compensation. On the other hand, fringe benefits granted to employees (except rank and file employees), may be subjected to a final tax we called Fringe Benefit Tax. The following are guidelines, definitions, computation and other important information you need to know about Fringe Benefit Tax in the Philippines.

What is a fringe benefit tax? What is a fringe benefit?

Fringe benefit tax (FBT) is a final withholding tax on the grossed-up monetary value of the fringe benefit granted by the employer to an employee who holds a managerial or supervisory position (i.e., except rank and file employees). FBT is treated as a final income tax on the employee which shall be withheld and paid by the employer on a calendar quarterly basis.

Fringe benefit means any good, service or other benefit furnished or granted by an employer in cash or in kind, in addition to basic salaries to employees (except rank and file employees) such as, but not limited to the following: 1. Housing; 2. Expense account; 3. Vehicle of any kind; 4. Household personnel, such as maid, driver and others;

5. Interest on loan at less than market rate to the extent of the difference between the market rate and actual rate granted; 6. Membership fees, dues and other expenses borne by the employer for the employee in social and athletic clubs or other similar organizations; 7. Expenses for foreign travel; 8. Holiday and vacation expenses; 9. Educational assistance to the employee or his dependents 10. Life or health insurance and other non-life insurance premiums or similar amounts in excess of what the law allows.

What are the benefits not covered by Fringe Benefit Tax?

The following employee benefits are not covered by Fringe Benefit Tax: 1. Fringe benefits which are authorized and exempted from income tax under the Code or under special law. Separation benefits which are given to employees who are involuntarily separated from work are not subject to FBT. 2. Contributions of the employer for the benefit of the employee to retirement, insurance and hospitalization benefit plans; 3. Benefits given to the rank and file, whether granted under a collective bargaining agreement or not; 4. De minimis benefits 5. Benefits granted to employee as required by the nature of, or necessary to the trade, business or profession of the employer 6. Benefits granted for the convenience of the employer Although the benefit may be exempt from FBT, it may, however, still form part of the employees gross compensation income which is subject to income tax, which is required to be covered by the withholding tax on wages.

What are De Minimis benefits?

The term De Minimis benefits which are exempt from the fringe benefit tax shall, in general, be limited to facilities or privileges furnished or offered by an employer to his employees that are of relatively small value and are offered or furnished by the employer merely as a means of promoting the health, goodwill, contentment, or efficiency of his employees. The following are considered as de minimis benefits granted to each employee as updated by Revenue Regulation (RR) 5-2011: (a) Monetized unused vacation leave credits of private employees not exceeding 10 days during the year (b) Monetized value of vacation and sick leave credits paid to government officials and employees; (c) Medical cash allowance to dependents of employees not exceeding P750.00 per employee per semester or P125 per month; (d) Rice subsidy of P1,500.00 or one (1) sack of 50-kg rice per month amounting to not more than P1,500.00; (e) Uniforms and clothing allowance not exceeding P4,000 per annum; (f) Actual medical assistance, e.g. medical allowance to cover medical and healthcare needs, annual medical/executive check-up, maternity assistance, and routine consultations, not exceeding P10,000 per annum; (g) Laundry allowance not exceeding P300 per month; (h) Employees achievement awards, e.g., for length of service or safety achievement, which must be in the form of a tangible personal property other than cash or gift certificate, with an annual monetary value not exceeding P10,000.00 received by the employee under an established written plan which does not discriminate in favor of highly paid employees; (i) Gifts given during Christmas and major anniversary celebrations not exceeding P5,000 per employee per annum; and (j) Daily meal allowance for overtime work and night/graveyard shift not exceeding 25% of the basic minimum wage on a per region basis.

All other benefits given by employers which are not included in the above enumeration shall not be considered as de minimis benefits, and hence, shall be subject to fringe benefit tax.

How to compute the Fringe Benefit tax?

The final withholding tax on fringe benefit shall be computed based on the taxable grossed-up monetary value multiplied by the applicable tax rate. a. The grossed-up monetary value The grossed-up monetary value of the fringe benefit shall be determined by dividing the monetary value of the fringe benefit as provided for in Revenue Regulations No 3-98 (as amended by RR 5-2011) by the percentage divisor in accordance with the following schedule: In general, for citizen, resident alien, and non-resident alien engaged in trade or business in the Philippines 68% For non-resident alien not engaged in trade or business in the Philippines 75% For alien or Filipino individuals employed by Foreign Petroleum Service Contractors/ Subcontractors, Offshore Banking Units and Regional or Area Headquarters and Regional Operating Headquarters of Multinational Companies occupying executive/managerial and technical positions 85% Note: Employees in special economic zones, including Clark Special Economic Zone and Subic Economic and Free Trade Zone, subject to the applicable divisor as herein provided. b. Applicable tax rates The fringe benefit tax shall be imposed at the following rates: In general 32% For non-resident alien individual who is not engaged in trade or business in the Philippines 25% For alien or Filipino individuals employed by Foreign Petroleum Service Contractors/Subcontractors, Offshore Banking Units and Regional or Area Headquarters and Regional Operating Headquarters of Multinational Companies occupying executive/managerial and technical positions 15% Note: Employees in special economic zones, including Clark Special Economic Zone and Subic Special Economic and Free Trade Zone, subject to the normal rate of fringe benefit tax or the special rates of 25% or 15% as herein provided. Sample computation of Fringe Benefit Tax Example/Question: VQA Company (a domestic employer/company) granted Mr. Santos (a Filipino branch manager employee), in addition to his basic salaries, Php 4,000 cash per quarter for his personal membership fees at Astro Gym (a fitness and athletic club). How much is the FBT that VQA Company should withhold and remit to BIR per quarter? Computation/Answer: Monetary value of fringe benefit: Php 4,000 Percentage divisor applicable: 68% Fringe benefit tax rate: 32% FBT= (Monetary value of fringe benefit/68%) x 32% FBT= (Php 4,000/68%) x 32% FBT= Php 5,882.35 x 32% FBT= Php 1,882.35

How to File Fringe Benefit Tax Return?

The following are information and guidelines you need to know in filing fringe benefit tax return with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR). What is the BIR Form used to file Fringe Benefit Tax? BIR Form No. 1603 Quarterly Remittance Return of Final Income Taxes Withheld on Fringe Benefits Paid to Employees Other than Rank and File. Please download BIR form 1603 here. Who Are Required To File? Every withholding agent/payor who is either an individual or non-individual required to deduct and withhold taxes on fringe benefits furnished to employees other than rank and file employees subject to Final Withholding Tax What are the procedures in filing BIR Form 1603? 1. Read instructions indicated in the tax return. 2. Accomplish BIR Form 1603 in triplicate copies. 3. If there is tax required to be remitted: Proceed to the nearest Authorized Agent Bank (AAB) of the Revenue District Office where you are registered or taxpayer concerned is registered and present the duly accomplished BIR Form No. 1603, together with the required attachments and your payment. In places where there are no AAB, proceed to the Revenue Collection Officer or duly Authorized City or Municipal Treasurer located within the Revenue District Office where you are registered or taxpayer concerned is registered and present the duly accomplished BIR Form No. 1603, together with the required attachments and your payment. Receive your copy of the duly stamped and validated form from the teller of the AABs/Revenue Collection Officer/duly Authorized City or Municipal Treasurer. 4. If there is no tax required to be remitted: Proceed to the Revenue District Office where you are registered or taxpayer concerned is registered and present the duly accomplished BIR Form No. 1603, together with the required attachments. Receive your copy of the duly stamped and validated form from the RDO representative Deadline Filing and Payment Via EFPS On or before the fifteenth (15th) day of the month following the end of the calendar quarter in which the fringe benefits were granted to the recipient. Manual Filing and Payment On or before the tenth (10th) day of the month following the end of the calendar quarter in which the fringe benefits were granted to the recipient. Reference and further codal readings: R.A. 8424 (as amended), BIR RR 2 and 3-98 (as amended), BIR RR 5-2011 (as amended), RMC 20-2011, BIR Form 1603 guidelines and tax rates, Bureau of Internal Revenue Philippines (www.bir.gov.ph) Disclaimer: This article is published for informational and educational use only and doesnt warrant professional advice. New and subsequent BIR rulings, issuances and or laws may render the whole or part of the article obsolete or inaccurate. Furthermore, there may also be other relevant information that have been missed to include in this article. For more information, please visit and inquire the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) RDO in your jurisdiction. A valid photo identification (ID) card is needed and required whenever we do transactions, such as sending and receiving money at Western Union and other money transfer agencies, opening a savings or checking account at different banks, doing other financial transactions with banks and nonbanks financial institutions, getting a passport, checking in at the airport, and transacting with other government and private agencies. An ID card helps us to enter into transactions, as well as entering

premises like schools and offices. It also represents our Identification which we can keep in our wallet. Thus, it is best for everyone to secure and keep a valid ID. The following is a list of current valid and acceptable photo identification (IDs) in the Philippines based on the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Circular No. 706 (Updated Anti-Money Laundering Rules and Regulations). Passport including those issued by foreign governments Drivers license Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) ID National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearance Police clearance Postal ID Voters ID Tax Identification Number (TIN) Barangay certification Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) e-Card Social Security System (SSS) card Senior Citizen card Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) ID Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW) ID Seamans book Alien Certification of Registration/Immigrant Certificate of Registration Government office and GOCC ID (e.g., AFP, HDMF IDs) Certification from the National Council for the Welfare of Disabled Persons (NCWDP) Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) certification Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) ID Company IDs issued by private entities or institutions registered with or supervised or regulated either by the BSP, SEC or IC. Valid photo-bearing school ID duly signed by the principal or head of the school (for non-voting/minor age students).

Similar IDs duly issued by the foreign government where the customer is a resident or a citizen may be presented (for non-Philippine resident). The BSP circular also made it to require the presentation of the original and submit a clear copy of only at least one of the valid ID above instead of the previous requirement of 2 valid IDs for people who will engage in a financial transaction for the first time with financial institutions, such as banks, Offshore banking units, quasi-banks, trust entities, non-stock savings and loan associations, pawnshops, foreign exchange dealers, money changers, remittance agents, electronic money issuers and other financial institutions which under special laws are subject to BSP supervision and/or regulation. This is in order to promote access of Filipinos to services offered by formal financial institutions, particularly those residing in the remote areas, as well as to encourage and facilitate remittances of OFWs through the banking system. Reference: Bangko Sentral nf Pilipinas Circular No. 706 issued on 01/05/2011

The fact that you are about to receive money is a pleasurable thing, especially when that cash is a gift or a collection of your hard worked income or earnings. In the past few months, I was receiving a few dollars from Google for being a publisher of Adsense. Before, Google pays its publishers in the Philippines by sending checks which can take longer period of time to receive. Well, I never had an experience receiving any Google check since I never earned from them during that time. When Google announced that they can already send earnings through Western Union, it was a good news to hear since receiving through WU is faster and more convenient. Now, if someone has send you money through Western Union, who maybe your family or relative, your client like Google, a buyer of your goods or services, or just a friend who wants to help you financially, the following are tips and steps on how to receive or pick up your money from Western Union in the Philippines. Confirm that the money is already for pick up Before you visit any Western Union Agent location, make sure that the money is ready to be collected. You can confirm the status of your money transfer by contacting / calling your sender or the Philippines Customer Hotline at 02 888-1200 (for calls within Metro Manila) or 1-800-1-888-1200 (toll-free nationwide via PLDT Lines), 1-800-9-888-1200 (toll-free nationwide via Globe Lines) or +632 888-1200 (for calls from overseas). In the case where money is sent to the Receivers (or beneficiarys) bank account at any of the following Philippine Banks, the money can be withdrawn from the bank account directly: Banco de Oro (BDO) Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Philippine National Bank (PNB) Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. (Metrobank) United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Allied Bank Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) If you are receiving money from Google Adsense, you can confirm if the money is already ready for pickup by going to your My Account / Payment History, and then check if there is already a payment issued. Your payment is available for pick-up the day after the payment date shown in the Payment Details.

Locate the nearest Western Union Agent near you. Once you have confirmed that your money is ready to be picked up, locate the nearest Western Union Agent in your area. You can checkWestern Unions agent locator here. There are thousands of Western Union Agents across the country. You can found WU agents in pawnshops, banks, business service centers, mall, et cetera. Visit the Agent Location of your choice After locating the WU Agent location, prepare to bring the following: The 10-digit Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN); The Senders full name (the first, middle and last names as signed on the To Send Money form); The City and Country where the money was sent from; The Expected Amount of the money transfer; Your original valid photo identification / govern ment issued ID (Passport, Drivers Licence, National ID, etc). For Google Adsense payments, you can check and copy the information (MTCN, Senders name and address, and expected amount of money transferred) by going to your My Account / Payment History / Payment Details. Complete the To Receive Money form Once you arrive at the Western Union Agent location, ask or get a to Receive Money form. Just fill out the form and provide the Agent the MTCN and present your original valid photo ID. Review and sign the receipt You will be given a receipt. Review it thoroughly and sign the receipt if all the details are already accurate. If the money sent to you where in US dollar currency, you can also receive it in US dollars. The agent will ask you whether you want the money to be released in Philippine pesos or in US dollar. Some receivers prefer to receive their money in dollars and exchange them in other money changer shops who exchange it for higher rate than the agent. But if you want to spend the money right away and you dont have the time to do the Math, you can receive the amount in our local currency. Receive your money This is it! The agent will hand you the money together with the receipt. The money will be now in your hands; keep it secure and safe. Source: Western Union

How to Get a Franchise Business in the Philippines

Posted: 24 Jul 2011 07:18 AM PDT

How to get and start a franchise business in the Philippines? Starting a franchise business is one of the

hottest trends in business nowadays. If you have the adequate amount of money for capital or initial investment, getting an already established and successful business is one the best business startup you can undertake. By getting a franchised business or being a franchisee, you will have the successful brand that is built for years of successful operation and expansion by the franchisor. Thus, you wont bother starting from scratch of an unknown company, product or business. In this blog, we are disseminating franchising information to our readers and followers to guide them in their plans to start their very own franchise business. The following are various articles which contain guidelines, franchise information (e.g., franchise fees, advertising fees, investment cost, terms, et cetera), steps of application and other important information you need to know to start a certain franchise business in the country. How to get a Jollibee franchise in the Philippines How to get a McDonalds franchise in the Philippines How a get a Dunkin Donuts franchise in the Philippines How a get a Mister Donut franchise in the Philippines How to get a Goldilocks Bakeshop franchise in the Philippines How to get a Greenwich Pizza franchise in the Philippines How to get a Mang Inasal franchise in the Philippines How to get a Zagu franchise in the Philippines How to get an Andoks franchise in the Philippines How to get a Monterey Meatshop franchise in the Philippines How get a Lotto Outlet franchise in the Philippines We will keep on updating this list and include other viable franchising businesses and brands in the country. If you are a franchisor or has a business that is open for franchising in the Philippines, and you want it to publish it in this site, please contact us and send us your franchise information, which include business profile, types of franchise offered, franchise cost, franchise terms, royalty fee, advertising fee, franchisee qualifications, payback period, personnel training and support, steps on application, contact information, address, website and other important information prospective franchisees should know.

How to convince people? The first thing to do to convince people is know and understand what you are trying to convince. You cannot convince someone if you, yourself, is not even convinced to that. Convince yourself by having patience, diligence and dedication on finding answers to your questions. Make research, do experiments, learn from other people, study the Words of God, and practice reflections. Justify in your heart, mind and soul the thing that you want to convince them. Practice and live on that thing. Dont convince someone with a lie. Because lie will eventually be discovered, and once its discovered, your convincing power will be destroyed and may never be restored again. Hence, convince people with a truth. Believe on what you are trying to tell them. If you are trying to convince your customers to buy your products, make sure that your products are worth it. Make sure that they have the quality and the value that consumers want. Then convince them by telling and educating them the truth about the value and quality of your products. Give them samples and freebies. If you want to convince your employees and subordinates to be productive and profitable, show them that you are also productive and profitable. Be a role model. Also show them the good effects of productivity and profitability by giving them productivity and profitability bonus. Be generous. If you want to convince people in your community, be helpful and be useful. Be a community-

friendly person. Make your business or profession socially responsible. Obey the law of the land. Speak to the people in your community with the true intentions of helping and saving their lives. Save their lives through big and many small ways. Dont smoke in public places; dont throw your garbage in the river or in the streets. Be friendly to people, to the environment and even to the culture. If you want to convince anyone with anything, just be that anything. Persuade someone to be rich by being rich. Influence someone to love by being loving. Convince someone to tell the truth by being honest and showing the advantages of telling the truth. Convince someone to lead himself by being a leader. Convince a person to follow you by following what is good for him. Convince someone to have self-discipline by being healthy, fit and happy.

10 Signs that You are a True Leader Posted: 23 Jul 2011 10:52 PM PDT

Do you have what it takes to be a leader? Leadership is essential to achieving a common goal. A common goal can be a goal of your organization, department, team, nation or even just a personal common goal of your mind and body, such as total health and wellness. Some people want to take the challenges of being a leader. There are also other people who just want to become followers and avoid the greater responsibilities inherent to a leader. But leadership is not only wanted, but it is done and lived. True leaders are not only persons who possess power, position and authority, but they are the ones who were born, grow, live and die as leaders. If you want to know if you have the guts to be a leader, the following 10 signs will let you know if you have what it takes to be a true leader. 1. You do the extraordinary things. You travel the road less traveled; you enter the narrow gate where few people enter. Leaders become leaders because they do the things that are not usually done by the common people. This attribute of a leader is connected with courage and the will to succeed. If you do things that are not usually done by the common people, then its one sign that youre a leader. 2. You dont have pride but you have a lot of honor. You can distinguish pride from honor,

which are two different things. Pride is an enemy of humility, but honor is a friend of humility. This is because pride is selfish, while honor is selfless. Pride bears bad consequences, while honor bears good fruits. If you are humble, selfless and honorable, or, if you can accept your own mistakes and take your share of blame, then you might be a leader. 3. You are generous while keeping yourself abundant. You are kind and have compassion with people who are in need. You share your success, blessings, recognition and profit. You keep yourself fruitful so that people can harvest your fruits. You are diligent to maintain your prosperity so that you will always have things to share to other people. If youre only generous, but you are lazy and doesnt work diligently to achieve prosperity, then you might not be a true leader. 4. You have great principles and can stand on those principles. You are deep and wise; you have principles and you are willing to stand and fight for your principles. Your principles emerge not only from your mentor or from your experience, but they are also the results of your reflections and realizations. If you love reading, listening, experimenting, learning and understanding, then you also have one of the signs of a true leader. 5. You can see the future. You have a vision and you can clear up that vision through the careful analysis of the history and the wise consideration of causes and effects. Youre also an advanced thinker who considers not only the short term, but also the long term things that will happen. You even have insights of the things that last forever. If you think, plan, calculate and live the future, then youre also having one of the indications of a real leader. 6. Youre a good teacher. You love to share light and enlighten people. You like to tell them the right direction and the way to life and the truth. You want to teach people to lead themselves and desire to teach them long-term solutions. If you are knowledgeable, informative, truthful, and you love to shape peoples lives, then you might be a true leader. 7. You want change and you dont change until you achieve that change. You always desire progress for yourself and for everybody. You are creative, innovative and revolutionary. You dont want to see the world and the people who live on it turning bad. You always go for what is right. If you love to change the world for good, and you are fixed to that, then you have one of the signs of a genuine leader. 8. You are happy and you can share that happiness to others. You have joy in your heart, and no one can take away that happiness within you no matter how many people hurt you. Youre truly happy because you have contentment, peacefulness, hope and thankfulness. You stay happy because you want to share happiness to others. 9. You are influential. There is power in your words; there is also power in your actions. You can lift up their spirits because you are down to Earth. You can make them trust and believe you because you are saying the truth. You can inspire and motivate people. You can, because you are self-inspired and self-motivated in the first place. You can influence yourself and can have selfcontrol. This is a sign of leadership. 10. Youre a good follower. Although you are a leader by position, you also follow your

followers to see to it that they are alright. You make rules, and you follow those rules. You are also a disciple a disciple of discipline. You dont follow what is not right, and money is not your master. But you follow righteousness, and love is your master. If you are a master who overcomes things that arent right, and you are a servant who serves righteousness, then you can be a great leader. So, do you have any sign of a true leader? Yes, those signs above seem to be so hard to find, to try and to perform. They are fundamentalist and seem to be idealistic. But that is what true leadership is all about. That is why true leaders are rare in existence.

5 Simple Tips to Becoming a Successful Leader Posted: 23 Jul 2011 04:10 AM PDT

How to become a successful leader? If youre a business manager, HR manager or a marketing manager, you need to have the good heart of management, which is a good leadership. Without leading, managing wouldnt be successful. Management will be like a body without a heart when leadership is not present in any form of management. That is why if you want to become a successful manager, youve got to be a successful leader first. Whether you call yourself a manager or a leader, the following five simple tips will help you to becoming a leader of success.

1. Be a leader The first step to become a successful leader is to become a real leader first. You should learn what true leadership means. Leadership doesnt only mean you have a position or an authority, but it means you have the capability to influence and bring people to the accomplishment of a common goal. Leadership also happens within oneself. A person, to become a leader of himself, should have the power to influence himself and bring his whole (mind, heart, body and spirit) to success. A true leader is also a follower. Likewise, a follower can also be a leader. A great leader is a follower of things that are right. And to become a successful leader, one must also make his followers leaders of themselves.

2. Be humble To succeed in leadership, you should become a great person. In becoming a great person, one should be sacrificial, and one of the best ways to learn this is to practice humility. Its hard to be humble right? Its difficult to forgive and get rid of our pride. Forgiving people and forgiving ourselves are very important feats leaders should always practice. This is also because forgiveness makes a leader calm, gentle, understanding and far away from anger and wrath. Leaders should maintain humility to possess those calmness and understanding, which they can use to effectively motivate and inspire people. But how can we really become humble? The answer is simple, yet difficult be humble everyday like how you take a bath every day. And youve got to start or at least try your best to become humble today! Humility is one thing that needs a lot of practice and maintenance. Just like taking a bath every day, youve got to take away your pride and hatred every day.

3. Be powerful Great kings have powerful swords that can conquer other lands and kingdoms. God has also a powerful sword, which is His Word that can conquer souls and spirits. A successful leader should possess powers in him. Of course, modern leaders today dont need to have powerful swords like the ancient kings have. But we do need a sword like the Words of God or a wisdom which are filled with truth and principles that can influence anyones heart and mind. We need to have power and we need to multiply that power throughout our people. Success in leadership is not only seen on the leader, but it is manifested on the success of the whole army, team or organization. That is why, to ensure leadership success, we need not only gain power for ourselves, but also we must empower our people and give them their slice of power, authority, control and success.

4. Be faithful When things get tougher and troubles come in, your followers should remain faithful to you as their leader. There are many problems that can strike an organization, such as economic crisis, stiff competition, and other natural and inevitable problems. But no matter what storm hits you and your people, you need to maintain their trust and confidence in you. Here, you need to apply the ethic of reciprocity, that is, do things that you want them to do to you. If you want them to remain faithful and loyal to you in times of troubles or prosperity, youve also got to remain faithful and loyal to them in times that they become weak or strong. Weve got to understand that life can be hard and easy. Likewise, we also need to understand that people, no matter how smart and great they are, they still have weakness. Thus, as part of our faithfulness to them, we need to guide them to develop their skills and strengths, and help them overcome their weaknesses.

5. Be a savior The final tip to becoming a successful leader is to become a savior to your followers or subordinates. People follow a leader because they are hoping that a leader will solve their problems, answer their questions, and eventually save their lives. Saving lives doesnt only mean saving people from death, but it can also mean saving them from their day to day problems, whether theyre small or big problems. Here, a leaders dedication and deep willingness to help his people is vital. A successful leader should become selfless, rather than selfish. He needs to get rid of greed and his personal interests. He even needs to stay happy and positive in the midst of misery and sufferings. You can save a persons life; you can also save a persons day. Even by just giving a sweet smile and a caring touch to the shoulder of your follower might already save his entire day. And if you truly love your people, you will not only be contented to saving their days, but will continuously do everything to save their lives and the life of your organization. I hope the five simple tips above will help you become a successful leader. Yes they are simple, but simplicity doesnt mean easiness. They are difficult and they arent ordinary. That is why to achieve success in leading people youve got to be tough and extraordinary.
If youre a Filipino businessman, entrepreneur, capitalist, investor or just a curious business minded person, you might have asked what is the most business friendly city in the Philippines. Recognizing Philippine cities to be convenient when it comes to opening and registering a new business gives a brighter hope for our countrys development since these new companies, whether small o r big, are the backbone of our national economy. New firms promise contribution to our local and national economic growth. They also provide more job opportunities to local people. Thus, if starting a business is made easier, economic growth also comes nearer for our nation and for the Filipinos. So which among the cities in the Philippines is the most business friendly? According to the study of doing business in 25 cities in the country which is co-published by the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the City of General Santos is where starting a business is the easiest. Starting a business in General Santos City only takes 17 procedures and 22 days, and it only costs 15.3% of income per capita. The average of starting a business in a Philippine city takes an average of 18 procedures and 33 days, and it costs 24.4% of income per capita. Next to General Santos is Davao City where business owners need 17 procedures, 27 days, and cost of 15.3% of income per capita to set up their new businesses. In the third spot is Taguig, where it will require 16 procedures and 28 days, and will cost 23.2% of income per capita to start a business. The countrys largest and richest cities, such as Quezon City, Makati and Manila are not even in the top 10. Quezon City is in the top 12, where it takes 16 procedures and 36 days to open a business. Manila is in the 17th place, where it takes only 15 procedures but 38 days to start a new firm. Makati is in the 20th position, where you will need 19 procedures and 33 days to start operating your business. Among the 25 Philippines Cities studied, San Juan City is the least business friendly city, where it takes 21 procedures, 39 days and cost of 26.3% of income per capita to set up a new business. The study of the 25 cities was included in the report titled Doing Business in the Philippines 2011, which is a copublishment of World Bank and the IFC. This is the second report in a series analyzing business regulations from the perspective of a small to midsize domestic firm in Philippine cities. Aside from ranking the most business friendly cities in the country, the report also includes the most convenient city when it comes to obtaining construction permits (Davao City) and the easiest when it comes to registering a property (Valenzuela). To move our country to economic progress, we should not only consider the national politics and leadership, but we should also ensure that the local government leaders we elect and put in the positions are responsible and active enough in promoting a more efficient and convenient business registration process. This will not only help businessmen or entrepreneurs to expedite the operation of their business, but this will also accelerate growth of our local and national employment rate and economic development.

Source: Doing Business in the Philippines 2011: World Bank and International Finance Commission What are the top life and non-life insurance companies in the Philippines? Insurance is already an essential part of our living when it comes to securing our future, the future of our children, our business and our properties. Determining the best company that will manage your insurance involves a lot of consideration, such as its business stability, financial performance, handling of claims, cost of services, convenience, facilities, corporate governance, and customer care. These factors can be found on the insurers financial highlights, reputation, track records and customers feedback or testimonials. Insurance companies may be classified into life and non-life insurance companies. Life insurance companies sell life insurance, annuities and pension products. On the other hand, non-life insurers typically insure your car, home or business. Non-life insurance is also called property and casualty insurance. In the country, the insurance industry is regulated and supervised by the Insurance Commission (IC) in accordance with the provisions of the Insurance Code of the Philippines. The following are the rankings of the top Life and Non-life Insurance Companies in the Philippines (according to Premium Income) published in the IC website as of July 2011. Top 10 Life Insurance Companies according to Premium Income as of December 31, 2010 (tentative as of July 12, 2011 ) 1 . Philam Life & Gen. Php 11,254,874,199 2 . Sunlife Php 10,633,280,619 3 . Phil. Axa Php 8,359,866,264 4 . Pru Life Php 7,356,704,771 5 . Insular Life Php 7,129,014,421 6 . BPI Philam Life Php 5,695,869,300 7 . Manulife (Phils) Php 3,974,603,127 8 Grepalife Financial Php 3,492,356,444 9 . United Cocolife Php 2,333,374,408 10 . Generali Pilipinas Php 1,419,746,109 Top 10 Non-Life Insurance Companies according to Gross Premiums As of December 31, 2010 (Tentative as of July 12, 2011) 1 . Malayan Insurance Company, Inc. Php 5,858,106,620 2 . Prudential Gtee. & Assce., Inc. Php 4,066,148,211 3 . BPI/MS Insurance Corporation Php 3,539,295,809 4 . Pioneer Insurance & Surety Corporation Php 2,718,585,446 5 . Standard Insurance Company, Inc. Php 2,382,765,077 6 . Chartis Philippines Insurance, Inc. Php 2,186,046,692 7 . UCPB General Insurance Company, Inc. Php 1,711,150,556 8 Philippine Charter Insurance Corporation Php 1,708,507,328 9 . Federal Phoenix Assurance Co., Inc. Php 1,701,163,755 10 . Mapfre Insular Insurance Corporation Php 1,657,172,423 Top 10 Non-Life Insurance Companies according to Net Premiums Written As of December 31, 2010 (Tentative as of July 12, 2011) 1 . Malayan Insurance Company, Inc. Php 2,592,615,313 2 . Prudential Gtee. & Assce., Inc. Php 2,311,485,514 3 . BPI/MS Insurance Corporation Php 1,463,556,306 4 . Mapfre Insular Insurance Corporation Php 1,174,230,852 5 . Philippine Charter Insurance Corporation Php 1,024,181,933 6 . Pioneer Insurance & Surety Corporation Php 980,435,515 7 . UCPB General Insurance Company, Inc. Php 914,780,895 8 Standard Insurance Company, Inc. Php 913,351,295 9 . Federal Phoenix Assurance Co., Inc. Php 859,506,016

10 . Chartis Philippines Insurance, Inc. Php 766,106,109 The lists above only rank the top insurance companies based on their gross or net premiums. Remember that there are still a lot of factors we need to contemplate in order to choose and deal with the best insurance companies that will offer the best security for us. Also remember that these insurers offer a variety of insurance products or services. Thus, it is also wise that we consider the best specific product for our specific needs. Stay tuned for our next updates. Source: Insurance Commission Statistics Website Page

Top Ten Largest Commercial Banks in the Philippines

Posted: 21 Jul 2011 06:39 AM PDT

Banks are where we entrust our money or cash for security or for earning interest income. A bank is also where we go when we want to obtain loans for our various financing needs, such as for our business startup or expansion. Thus, it is very important that we choose the best banks which we can gain solid trust and confidence. There are many factors and indicators that we can check to determine the banking partner that is best for us, such as its financial capacity, reputation and integrity, recognition and awards, corporate governance and other things that makes a bank a great financing institution to do business with. When it comes to knowing the financial stability of banks in the Philippines, we look into their assets and equity. We also analyze the volume of their deposits and loans. Banks pay interest on their clients deposits while they earn interest on the loans they lend to their debtors. To have an idea on the largest banks in the Philippines in terms of financial capacity, the following is a list of top ten biggest commercial banks in the country in terms of assets, equity, loans and deposits as of March 31, 2011. Top 10 Largest Banks Based on Assets (as of March 31, 2011) 1. Banco De Oro (BDO) Php 965.1 billion 2. Metrobank Php 955.8 billion 3. Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Php 751.8 billion 4. Landbank Php 605.2 billion 5. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Php 311.2 billion 6. Philippine National Bank (PNB) Php 306.2 billion 7. Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Php 297.4 billion 8. Unionbank of the Philippines (UBP) Php 244.9 billion 9. Chinabank Php 235.2 billion 10. Citibank Php 202.6 billion Top 10 Largest Banks Based on Capital (as of March 31, 2011) 1. Metrobank Php 98.9 billion 2. Banco De Oro (BDO) Php 86.6 billion 3. Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Php 78.1 billion 4. Landbank Php 58.3 billion 5. Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Php 37.2 billion

6. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Php 36.0 billion 7. Chinabank Php 31.5 billion 8. Unionbank of the Philippines (UBP) Php 31.2 billion 9. Philippine National Bank (PNB) Php 29.5 billion 10. Security Bank Php 25.5 billion Top 10 Largest Banks Based on Deposits (as of March 31, 2011) 1. Banco De Oro (BDO) Php 745.5 billion 2. Metrobank Php 714.7 billion 3. Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Php 604.8 billion 4. Landbank Php 480.9 billion 5. Philippine National Bank (PNB) Php 232.3 billion 6. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Php 214.9 billion 7. Unionbank of the Philippines (UBP) Php 195.4 billion 8. Chinabank Php 195.1 billion 9. United Coconut Planters Bank (UCPB) Php 148.5 billion 10. Allied Bank Php 146.2 billion Top 10 Largest Banks Based on Loans * (as of March 31, 2011) 1. Banco De Oro (BDO) Php 541.5 billion 2. Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) Php 367.9 billion 3. Metrobank Php 363.9 billion 4. Landbank Php 219.9 billion 5. Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) Php 141.8 billion 6. Citibank Php 116.1 billion 7. Philippine National Bank (PNB) Php 102.9 billion 8. Chinabank Php 101.3 billion 9. Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) Php 100.0 billion 10. Allied Bank Php 91.0 billion *Excludes Interbank Loans Receivables and Net of General Loan Loss Provision Stay tuned for our next updates! Source: Published Balance Sheet /Statement of Financial Condition of the banks ranked therein.

LANDBANK is the official depository bank of the Republic of the Philippines. It is fully owned by the government of the Philippines. Though its a government owned bank and financial institution that strikes a balance in fulfilling its social mandate of promoting countryside development, LANDBANK remains financially viable and ranks among the top five commercial banks in the country in terms of deposits, assets, loans and capital. LANDBANK was founded in August 8, 1963 and as of June 30, 2011, it already has a network of 327 Branches/Bank Units and 927 ATMs nationwide. LANDBANK is one of my trusted banks in the country and if you want to open a bank account with them, the following important information, requirements, steps and tips will serve as your guidelines.

What are the Deposit Products offered by Land Bank? 1. Savings Account with ATM Access. An interest bearing peso account wherein withdrawal transactions are done via Automated Teller Machines (ATM) 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Deposit and withdrawal transactions may also be done over-the-counter but only during official banking hours/days. Withdrawals may also be made at any Expressnet, Megalink and Bancnet ATMs.

Features of Savings Account with ATM Access: Initial Deposit Requirement: P 500 Required ADB: P 500 Required Daily Balance to Earn Interest: P 500 Interest Rate: .5% p.a. Maximum withdrawable amount/day: P 50,000 Documentation: ATM 2. Regular Savings Account. An interest bearing peso-account which requires presentation of a passbook for deposit and withdrawal transactions. Features of Regular Savings Account (Individuals and Institution): Initial Deposit Requirement: P 10,000 Required ADB: P 10,000 Required Daily Balance to Earn Interest: P 10,000 Interest Rate: .5% p.a. Documentation: Passbook 3. Regular Current Account. A non-interest bearing peso account, also known as Checking or Demand Deposit Account wherein deposits are made over-the-counter whereas withdrawals are made through the issuance of a check. Features of Regular Current Account (Individual / Institution): Initial Deposit Requirement: P 5,000 / 10,000 Required ADB: P 5,000 / 10,000 Documentation: Checkbook Other Deposit Products offered by Land Bank: 4. Current Account with ATM Access 5. Regular Peso E.A.S.Y. (Earning Access & Sure Yield) 6. Check & Sure Yield) Check with ATM Access 7. Regular Peso Time Deposit 8. Easy Savings Plus (ESP) 9. High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA) 10. U.S. Dollar Savings Account 11. U.S. Dollar Time Deposit 12. LANDBANK E-$-P (Easy Dollar Pension) For more details and description of the above deposit products please visit this page from Land Bank.

What are the basic requirements in opening a deposit account in Land Bank? Basic requirements for opening a Savings Account with ATM Access:

A. Individual/Joint: 1. At least two (2) valid IDs 2. 1 x 1 ID picture (Some branches require a picture with negative) 3. TIN Number must be presented*Valid IDs include SSS ID, GSIS ID, Drivers License, Company ID (present), School ID, Passport, TIN ID, Postal ID, Phil Health ID, Marriage Contract (original copy), Major Credit Card, Membership Card of well-known associations and clubs, HMO ID, Senior Citizens Card. B. Single Proprietorship: 1. Registration of Business Name with Department of Trade 2. Original Application for Registration 3. Two valid IDs of authorized signatory/ies

Basic requirements for opening a Regular Savings Account or Regular Current Account: A. Individuals 1. At least two (2) valid IDs such as: 2. New SSS/GSIS ID 3. Drivers License 4. Company ID 5. School ID 6. Passport 7. PRC ID 8. Postal ID 9. Marriage contract (original copy) 10. Credit Card of a Reputable Company 11. License to Carry Firearms

12. Two (2) copies of most recent 1 x 1 ID Picture 13. Tax Identification Number B. Single Proprietorship 1. Registration of Business name with Department of Trade and Industry 2. City/Municipal Mayors Permit 3. Application of Renewal of City/Municipal Mayors Permit/Old Registration 4. Two valid IDs of authorized signatory/ies C. Partnership 1. Articles of Partnership 2. Certification of Registration with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 3. Duly notarized Agreement on the extent of authority of each partner 4. Two valid IDs of authorized signatory D. Corporation 1. Articles of Incorporation 2. Certificate of Registration with Securities and Exchange Commission 3. Corporate By-Laws 4. Duly notarized Board Resolution incorporating the following: 1. Authority to open bank account with LBP 2. Designated Officers authorized to deposit, withdraw, endorse or negotiate checks and other deal with the bank deposit and the nature and extent of such authority which should inform the By-Laws of said corporation 3. Notarized List of incumbent Officers, Board of Directors and Stockholders 4. Two valid IDs of authorized signatory/ies and Corporate Secretary 5. Certificate of filing of By-Laws with SEC 6. Certificate of registration with appropriate agency E. Association or Organization

1. Certificate of registration with appropriate agency 2. Constitution and By-Laws 3. Association Agreement 4. Duly notarized Board Resolution incorporating the following: 1. Authority to open bank account with LBP 2. Designated Officers authorized to sign and the nature and extent of such authority F. Corporation in the process of incorporation 1. Proposed Articles of Incorporation stating therein the name of Treasurer-in-Trust authorized to open an account with the Bank in behalf of the Corporation 2. Duly notarized Secretarys Certificate 3. Duly notarized Treasurers Affidavit 4. Two valid IDs of authorized signatory/ies G. Government Entities 1. Charter and/or Law creating the government corporation/agency/office 2. Executive Order or Department Order creating the government agency 3. Duly notarized Board resolution incorporating the following:a. Authority to open bank account with LBPb. Designated Officers authorized to sign and the nature and extent of such authority H. Cooperatives 1. Certificate of Registration with the Cooperative Development Authority 2. Articles of Cooperation and By-Laws 3. Duly notarized Board resolution incorporating the following: 1. Authority to open bank account with LANDBANK 2. Designated Officers authorized to sign and the nature and extent of such authority For the list of requirements on other deposit products or accounts please visit this Land Banks Deposit Products and Features Page.

Tips and steps in Applying and Opening a Bank Account in Land Bank 1. Decide on what type of deposit account you want to open in Land Bank. Refer to the list and information above. 2. Choose the Land Bank branch of your choice. You can check the list of LBP branches at their branch locator page. 3. Visit the Land Bank branch that youve chosen and bring the complete requirements in opening a bank account (please check the list of requirements above). 4. Proceed to the New Account Desk; tell the bank officer your intent to open a bank account. Then fill-up the forms that will be given to you. It is also wise to always bring a ball pen to avoid borrowing one or waiting in line for the pen provided by the bank at the writing area. 5. Give the initial deposit for your account. It should be equal or more than the minimum initial deposit amount. Make sure that your balance will not fall below the minimum balance requirements. 6. Claim your passbook, checkbook, certificate of deposits or ATM card at the date or time promised to your by the account officer. For ATM cards, Land Bank can release it within the day of your successful application.

Other steps for Pag-IBIG Fund Members opening a Land Bank ATM Savings account If you are a Pag-IBIG Fund Member, and needs to open a Land Bank ATM Savings account as a requirement for applying a Multi-Purpose Loan, you need to visit first the HDMF (Home Development Mutual Fund) office near you and request / accomplish a Letter of Introduction from Pag-IBIG to open an ATM account as a Pag-IBIG member. Landbank will only require an (a) initial deposit of P100.00 and a P50.00 ATM card fee, (b) 2 Valid IDs, (c) 3 11 ID pictures (should have negative), and the (d) letter of Introduction from HDMF for the opening of your ATM savings account. Notes: -Usually, banks require a depositor to have 3-6 months of maintaining a savings account before they can be eligible to open a checking account. This is usually a quality control practice by common banks to minimize the incidence of depositors issuing bouncing checks. -This article is published for informational use only. For more details, please visit the nearest Land Bank branch in your place or visit their official website at www.landbank.com

Business Forum and Online Community in the Philippines

Posted: 20 Jul 2011 11:15 AM PDT

Online business forums are the best places on the Internet where every businessman and entrepreneur can share knowledge, ideas and insights on business, entrepreneurship, marketing and other business related topics. A business forum, which is also available and accessible 24/7 online, is a great place to seek answers, advices and solutions to our business questions and problems. Moreover, if you want to share your expertise and help people, such forum will give you opportunities to serve more. The Business Forum In light of the above, we have created Business Forum Philippines. With its true Filipino domain name BusinessForum.ph, this online business community or forum website hopes to provide our dear Filipino entrepreneurs and businessmen a haven for sharing great information that will boost their business success. Thus, we are inviting our blogs visitors, readers and followers to join Business Forum Philippines. The forum has just been launched today, and though its very new, it already accepts free membership and registration. It can already accommodate important discussions, including some of our visitors queries and further questions on the articles published in this blog. How to register To join and become a member of Business Forum Philippines, please click and visit our Registration Page. You will only need a valid email address which you will use to register and activate your registration. The process of registration can be done in a minute. Just fill out the required information which includes your username and password. You can add and edit your profile for additional information if needed. Once youre done registering, you can now participate in the forums discussions which are discussed in the next paragraph. What to expect in the Forum Business Forum Philippines is a good and organized place to discuss and expand our knowledge and insights about business and other related topics. We have currently categorized the forum into the following sub-forums:

Business Forum includes discussion on business startup, entrepreneurship, franchising, accounting and business in general.

Marketing Forum includes discussions on internet and offline marketing. Management Forum includes topics on general management and leadership. Money and Finance Forum includes discussion on making money online, investing and personal finance Technology Forum includes electronics, gadgets and automobile discussions. Law and Taxation Forum includes topics on Philippine Business and Labor Law, taxation and discussions about the Philippine Government System Personal Development Forum includes subcategories, such as self-improvement, love and romance, religion, spirituality and social responsibility. Aside from the current forums and sub-forums above we will also add other useful forums that we think will be helpful to all our members. All members are required to adhere to the Forum rules and policies to make the forum a better place to hang out with others. Thus, new members are encouraged to read and understand the simple rules that can be found at the top announcement in the forum. We all invite you to be part of this online business community and we hope to help and serve everyone and each one towards the achievement and accomplishment of our business and entrepreneurial goals. So what are you waiting for, join now and start sharing your question or answer, problems or solutions, ideas, deep insights or just anything you want to tell about doing business. Finally, dont forget to put a nice picture on your profile and for your avatar.

Free Management Articles and Resources Posted: 20 Jul 2011 07:02 AM PDT

We need good management in every goal we need to accomplish. Whether those objectives are personal, social, financial and entrepreneurial, we need management to effectively and efficiently

achieve them. To realize the success of readers and followers of this blog, we regularly publish free management articles, stories, news, tips and resources on business, human resource and personal management. They are aimed to make anyone a better manager who can bring their respective organization and people within that organization into optimal success. The following are management articles and resources which you can freely read to boost your knowledge and understanding of the principles of management. What is the difference between a manager and a leader? This article will help you clarify the confusing differences between a manager and a leader. This will also give you a clearer meaning of management and the importance of leadership in good management. If you think the two differ in many things, this discussion will give you a revolutionary understanding of that matter. How to Become a Good Manager in 7 ways This list of tips will not only help anyone become a good manager, but will also help him or her become a better manager. Learn the wise ways to become an effective and efficient manager who can bring success in himself, his business, organization, and to his people not only in the short run, but also in the long run. How to Keep Your Employees Excited about Coming to Work Ive been an employee: Ive also been a manager who always talks to my subordinates. I know what it feels how to be excited to work or see my staff excited about coming to work. Excitement is a voluntary energy that workers can have to improve their productivity. This article will tell you the secrets to keeping your employees always excited about working in your workplace. How to Motivate Employees to be More Productive Motivating people is one of the most difficult yet most challenging tasks of a manager. If we want to motivate other people, we should first learn how to motivate ourselves. We cannot influence others if we are not even influential to ourselves. This is one of the deep insights tackled in this article. Discover the secret to motivating yourself and your people. How to be a Good Employer in 5 Steps If you are a businessman or an entrepreneur who owns an enterprise, you probably have employees working with you. They are considered the best assets you can keep inside your company or organization. Thus, it is very important to develop them and make them better employees who can help you achieve productivity, profitability and business stability. But they will not become better employees, if you will not also become a better employer. This article gives you 5 steps to become a good to better employer. How to Unite People in Your Organization Unity and harmony are two very important things an organization needs to prosper and succeed. If you have been awarded the responsibility of a manager or a leader, you should always think and act for the unity of people in your organization. This article will guide you on how to break the walls that divide them and how to open the windows that connect each of them to become one. How to Really Make Your Employees Happy

Happy employees are productive employees. But how can we make our workers happy? How can we share happiness to others? The answer is simple produce happiness within you. Make yourself truly happy first. If you are happy, then you can make others happy too. This is one of the lessons you will learn from reading this article. How to Find Good Employees If youre an employer or a HR manager, finding good employees is like finding cream from the crop or searching for the finest ingredients that will formulate your success. But like finding the finest quality of ingredients, finding good employees is not that easy. And when you find those good people, how can you preserve them to stick with you? Learn a very important lesson from this article on finding the best people to be part of your organization. Top 12 Reasons Why Managers Fail To become a successful manager, we should prevent management failures. Learn from others mistakes and dont commit the top 12 things why managers fail which are discussed in this article. This list gives some common yet usually ignored points that cause management to fail. It also explains why these reasons become a pit that pulls managers to fall down. Quotes and Sayings about Management Timeless quotations and sayings from the greatest managers of our history can be great sources of management knowledge and wisdom which we can use to become better managers. They are short yet deep and rich in meaningful thoughts. Start digging and reflecting by reading and realizing this list of golden management maxims throughout time. To read more free management articles and resources in our blog, please visit and browse our Management Category Page. We always look forward to your real success!

What is the difference between a manager and a leader? Are there really differences between management and leadership? Managers and leaders are both vital in business and organizational success, whether big or small. They are both tasked to accomplish certain objectives. That is why it is very important that we know and understand their real functions and how we can effectively use both of them to achieve our organizational and entrepreneurial goals. At the end of this discussion, we will realize significant insights regarding the difference between a manager and a leader.

Definitions of leadership and management To distinguish the two, we go to their definitions. Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively. On the other hand, leadership is the process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the accomplishment of a common task. As we learn, both are designed for the accomplishment of a goal. The truth is leadership is a vital part of management, and a vital part of management is leadership. In other words, they both rely on

each other to exist and work optimally. Management is a body, while leadership is its heart. If leadership will not function, management will not function as well.

Top differences known between a manager and a leader There have been several attempts to distinguish the two, and some of those top differences are the following. 1. Managers have subordinates, while leaders have followers 2. Managers are reactive, while leaders are proactive. 3. Managers are transactional, while leaders are transformational 4. Managers minimize risks, while leaders take the risks 5. Managers are concern on being right, while leaders are concern on what is right 6. Managers blame, while leaders take the blame 7. Managers take credits, while leaders give credits 8. Managers make rules, while leaders break the rules 9. Managers consider the short term, while leaders see the long-term 10. Managers are traditional, while leaders are innovative

Those dont really differentiate a manager from a leader Yes, the ten differences above dont really distinguish a manager from a leader, and there have been many misconceptions with regard to that matter. Here are the reasons why. 1. Managers have subordinates, but these subordinates are also their followers. Likewise, leaders followers can also be their subordinates. 2. Good managers are proactive and not reactive. Bad leaders are reactive. 3. Both good managers and leaders are transformational. They can also be transactional. 4. Wise managers do not minimize risks; they only maximize rewards. Leaders do not always take the risks, especially when rewards are obscure. 5. Both managers and leaders are concerned on what is right. You cannot be right when you arent concern on what is right. 6. Responsible managers and leaders take the blame. Bad managers and leaders always blame others. 7. Benevolent managers and leaders give credits. Selfish managers and leaders take all the credits. 8. Both managers and leaders make rules. They also both break rules. 9. Wise managers and leaders consider the short-term, mid-term and long-term. 10. Both managers and leaders can be traditional and innovative.

The real difference between a manager and a leader

As weve discussed earlier, management is like a body, and leadership is its heart. A body without a heart cannot live. Likewise, a heart without a body where it will reside wont also live. Management and leadership co-exist and are directly connected to each other. When leadership is bad, management also turns bad. On the other hand, when leadership is good, management also becomes good. Furthermore, when leadership innovates, management also innovates, and vice versa. In short, what leadership becomes is what also management will become. Just like when heart becomes healthy, the body also becomes healthy, and when the body becomes strong, the heart also strengthens. They always go around, just like the veins that connect and the blood that flow to each other. The only real differences they have are their names, size of coverage and the fact that leadership is an integral part of management, and that an integral part of management is leadership. Therefore, instead of breaking a leader (leadership) and a manager (management) apart, let us rather harmonize the two to effectively and efficiently work as one. Finally, let us also understand that management and leadership can also exist on every individual we can be at the same time a good leader and a manager of ourselves.

How to Protect Your Financial Investments in the Philippines Posted: 19 Jul 2011 08:32 AM PDT

Putting our hard-earned money in various financial investments can give us many benefits, such as improving our earnings, growing our wealth and building up our quality of life in the future. Private individuals, small entrepreneurs, micro businesses, big companies, and the government invest in different types of financial instruments for different purposes. Financial investments may include savings deposits, certificate of time deposits, money market instruments, mutual funds, bonds and investments in equity instruments like corporate stock or share of ownership. Employees who rely on their fixed regular compensation income invest to secure their life after retirement. Business owners and entrepreneurs invest to ensure their business profitability and stability. The government invests funds to promote national and economic development. Whatever type of investment it is and whoever the investor is, it is important to know and learn

how to protect your financial investments in the Philippines. The government agencies (SEC, BSP and IC) responsible for regulation of securities, investments, financing and banking activities in the Philippines have teamed up to disseminate important information and practical reminders to protect everyones financial investments in the country. The following are the seven important tips you should remember to safeguard your financial investments. 1. Know the financial product that you plan to invest in, particularly the terms and conditions in fine print. Do not invest if you do not understand the product or any of its terms and conditions. The power of investing should be founded on knowledge and understanding. We have invested hard work to earn our money. Hence, we should be careful and we should exert enough effort to determine if a particular investment product is good for us or not. 2. Do not be enticed by the promise of extremely high returns. Understand that the higher the return on investments, the greater the risk. It is also common that investments offering instant high returns are hiding eventual financial problems in the long-run. Avoid pyramiding investment schemes, including internet-based, that induce investors to recruit others in exchange for more income. You should check the background, legitimacy, reputation, reviews and testimonials about any internet-based companies who are offering investment and income opportunities online. Most investment schemes that induce investors to recruit others in exchange for higher income usually dont have adequate asset or capital and only rely on the money invested to them by their members or investors. 3. Make sure that the actual investment product/instrument, if sold in the Philippines, is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), or has the prior approval of the Insurance Commission in the case of insurance products. A certificate of Incorporation from the SEC does not automatically mean that its investment products issued by banks should be authorized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). You can always check the list of accredited investing and financing companies in the SEC, IC or BSP websites. For example, here is a list of registered Mutual Fund Companies in the Philippines as of December 31, 2010. 4. Check the background of the issuing entity and the people behind it. Investment products issued by banks should be authorized by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). You can also report any doubtful entities and verify it at the BSP office near you. 5. Deal only with solicitors, agents and brokers licensed by the SEC, or with employees authorized by banks if the product is bank-issued.

6. Investment products/instruments are not insured by the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corporation. 7. Keep proof of Investments such as official receipts, investment contracts, certificates of participation, and the like, in a secure place. For additional information, please access the websites of BSP (Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas), SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and IC (Insurance Commission). Source: SEC Practical reminders to protect your financial investments

Managing your own money should be like riding a bike in that once you have learned it, you will not forget it. The point of having a personal financial budget is to always have a plan with your money and prevent financial problems from happening. There are also those who form budgets to help themselves get out of debt. However, the practice of having a personal budget does not have to be just a desperate measure, but a sensible way to handle money. Here is a simple way on how to create a personal financial budget. Consider the adequacy of your income You must remember though that a lot of people would go on and have a budget, then fail later on. There are a lot of reasons for this, but the main one is that they focus on their spending or expenses while not considering the amount of money they earn each month. There are a lot of cases where everything has been listed down and estimated to a tee, only to find out that it is not working out anyway. You cannot pull the belt in too tightly, but being loose is also being half-hearted about budgeting. Earn more than you spend The first thing to remember in having a budget is to bear in mind the golden rule of personal finance, which is to earn more than you spend and invest the difference. It seems like such a simple statement, but the amount of people who do not get its true significance is quite staggering. For most people, they earn money from their work salary or compensation. Some people also earns from passive income through their business and other investments. Expenses are mostly composed of telephone and electric bills, food, clothing, medical and educational, and other necessities, as well as certain amenities depending on the individual in question. Lifestyle plays a major factor in the said difference, which may then be squandered, saved, or invested. Your total annual income is your set limit, and going beyond it usually means that you will be in debt. That is a simplistic way of looking at it. Organize your expenses You must list down all of your regular expenses like bills and other payables. Through this process, you can then figure out what to keep, throw away, and replace. It is obvious that whatever you may not need should just be taken out of the equation, despite your personal feelings. Take the high priority necessities and take their total as your bare minimum budget. Whatever comes afterwards are what you have to decide to spend on, which will require both decisiveness and self-discipline. Secure your savings An allotted amount should serve as your savings, and you must put it into a secure bank account right away. No one is to touch that money, not even you, if you want to save it up. This is the first step to building up your personal wealth, and you can branch off to other financial plans from here. But take the first rule of business to heart, which is to always protect your investments. Monitor your cash flow The most labor intensive part of having your own budget is to track every single expense. What you do with your cash in hand must never go unaccounted, so record every bit of expense, no matter how small. This lets you keep a closer eye on your spending and also to know what you are spending on the most. It is good to put every expense into appropriate categories like food, rent, electricity, phone, water, and so on. This way, you know where to cut back when you need to.

How to Build an Emergency Fund

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 08:45 PM PDT

In times of crisis and panic, there is no one, if not a few people, who would ever help you. Most of us live in a state of relative complacency, unaware of the dangers that may suddenly occur without any forewarning. May it be an accident or health problem that causes unwanted medical bills, a disaster at work that leaves you jobless and halts your earnings, a business and investment loss, or an unexpected damages of property and equipment that require spending on repairs expense, it is recommended that everyone must learn how to build an emergency fund in order to keep them off the proverbial pit of lava that seeks to engulf them with personal and financial problems, as well as with mental and emotional depression. Accept that worst things happen There are various ways one can use in order to build an emergency fund, but the best are simple, practical, and quite clever if you really think about it. All of them are for various situations that may be drastic and unexpected. Beforehand, your attitude towards the probability of getting caught in an emergency must cease leaning towards disbelief, as that is the normalcy bias that most people are prone to. The state of preparation is the acceptance of both good and bad in all things. Good things happen, but the opposite also can occur. But whether a positive or a negative possibility exists in the future, it is always positive to build a fund, as well as the preparedness and confidence that you will be using in whatever circumstances that will happen in the future. Where to put your emergency fund A lot of people build an emergency fund with short-term certificates of deposit, which is a way to put a certain amount into six-month or one-year certificates. Your motivation to not take it out is that if you do prematurely, there will be penalties and you may end up ripped off intentionally. Of course, you wouldnt care about this in an emergency situation, so that is quite a good technique to learn. When the time is up for the certificate, you can either transfer the money to a savings account or put it in another short-term investment certificates. The next method in the list does need a bit of work, but it is quite ingenious. If you are very diligent with accounting your finances and staying with the budget, you can take all of your written checks and round them up to the next highest amount, which means that theres a difference between that and the real amount. You basically force yourself to be thriftier by assuming that you have spent more than you already have. That difference is then saved up in your account and piles up over time. You can also build a buffer whenever you get a raise. Once you do get rewarded by your hard work, that is definitely a great opportunity for you to put together an emergency fund. You can either cash in all of your paychecks or count up the amount from the raise and put that into your emergency fund. You can tell here due to the theme of this article that the latter is the wiser choice. Finally, you should acknowledge the power of loose change. This is the classic piggy bank method where you regularly drop in whatever loose change you have into a secure container and not take anything out as it accumulates into what can be described as a coin juggernaut. That helps in accumulating an unbelievable amount of cash that was started by what seemed to be a trifle. That is the power of starting small.

How to Save Your Money in the Bank

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 09:05 AM PDT

When learning how to save your money in the bank, you come across various banking jargon that may not make sense if you are not familiar with banking procedures yet. One of the first phrases you will encounter is savings interest rate. That is basically what the bank pays you for letting them keep your money. That is one of the two main reasons why people put their money in the bank, the other being security. Part of learning how to save your money in the bank is finding the highest savings interest rates available. Interest income A bank earns money from interest and other charges that come with bank loans made through the use of the money you have entrusted them to, wherein a portion of their income is then used to award you with deposit interest. That also means if you put more money into that account, the more you will earn through those interest rates. In turn, the bank as a financial intermediary can help you save your money more efficiently through a number of means. Most savings accounts require a minimum balance in order to keep on earning interest. If your balance is below that minimum amount, it will result in your money being deducted with bank charges, then finally having your account closed since you did not maintain it within the minimum maintaining balance. The bank is entitled to do this as it comes with the savings account. This then forces you to save a good amount of money than to just merely having a bank account or an ATM card. The benefits of saving your money in the bank If you are looking for ways to practice better financial management, take note that even experts agree that much of it is centered around the bank. The various services that banks offer nowadays make money management a more convenient affair. You can pay your bills easily, keep a record of your transactions, receive money efficiently, and keep it secure all at once as long as you have an account in that bank. This not only helps you save money, but precious time as well. You can also deposit whenever and however you please, so you can accumulate your personal wealth more easily and conveniently. As long as it is at or above the minimum maintaining balance, your money should be safe and sound. The bank also offers various long term saving schemes with higher yield and other benefits such as time deposit accounts, foreign currency savings accounts, mutual funds, and other investment funds. You get to keep your money undisturbed by anyone for a long period of time while being able to add a certain amount in order to build up your savings that you have invested in that particular account. That in turn lets you have larger gains in savings interest. Keep in touch with your bank about their services and get second opinions about various saving schemes. It is easy to get confused with all the formal language and banking argot used in these transactions, but the best way to learn how to understand them is to translate it into something that can be observed in action. The objective of saving your money in a bank is to keep it safe and have it grow while it is in there. If you keep remembering that, you should be alright.

How to Save Money in the Philippines

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 04:16 AM PDT

Most people would see thriftiness as a series of sacrifices made in the expense of enjoyment in life. However, nothing is further from the truth as saving money is not merely just begrudgingly done for practical reasons, but a complete lifestyle decision. There is no need for depression as one can live a full and exciting life without having to resort to complete self-indulgence. The many ways on how to save money in the Philippines are actually quite simple and nearly effortless with practice. Earn income The golden rule in personal finance is to earn more than you spend and invest the difference. If your salary is proving to be insufficient for your current expenditures, then it stands to reason that you reassess the things you spend on and cut back when necessary. Of course, the most important thing is to have income in the first place. If there is nothing coming in, then there is nothing to save in the first place. Be humble and have self-control Living well within or even below your means is the most obvious part of saving money. This is where you mostly have to power through as there is no other way to do this other than instilling self-control and discipline. There are various things other people do with their money that are totally unnecessary like showing off. If there is one thing that capitalism has done wrong to society is propagating the need to show off your social status. Such an act does not make you a better human being, so there is no need to flash your wealth around. Being comfortable in your own skin is not only a good way to maintain your self-confidence, but it helps you curb your expenses as well. Saving your earning Another effective way you can save money is to make sure that you can save at least 10% or more of your salary every month. No one else must touch that money, no matter what. In fact, a very good thing to do is to make sure that the salary from the first hour of every single work day goes into a savings account. Time deposit is a good option for those who are familiar with it, so you can save as much as you can. Watch out your expenses Keeping control of your expenses means that you are always in control. You can list down all of your most common expenses and categorize them. Organizing this information should let you make sense of where your money is going and how you can reduce your expenses. Having this intimate sense of your expenses also lets you know what limit you can set in order to control it. That list will also let you pick out which areas can be improved, like shopping for groceries in a different store if they have lower prices. There are plenty of other ways you can utilize in order to save more money. Just remember that it is a decision which involves changing your current lifestyle, personal behaviors and financial (earning and spending) habits. Conservation and thriftiness dont mean stinginess and deprivation of your personal freedom, but they only mean living as a wise human being who makes the right personal financial judgments and decisions.

How to Save Money on Your Telephone Bill

Posted: 18 Jul 2011 03:46 AM PDT

The landline telephone is still a primary medium of communication, despite the newer forms such as text messaging and the Internet. In fact, a lot of those are centered around landline telephone networks. It is still the best way to keep in touch with family and friends, as well as maintaining contact with other parties in business. Such convenience does cost a considerable amount of money each month, which is why it is important to learn how to save money on your telephone bill. Call at the right time It is important to take note of your phone services peak and off-peak rates in order to call at the best times during the day. Calling at off-peak hours is significantly cheaper than during peak hours, so always plan your calls. Of course, you must beware of the fine print in any phone service as they might have certain clauses that may not be in your best interest. Such claims of having cheaper rates at certain conditions may have catches that will not necessarily be in your favor, so always read the terms and conditions before you sign up for a service. Save time on calling Set limits to the duration of calls so that you do not needlessly talk away while the bill becomes more expensive without your immediate awareness. A good way to remain vigilant is to keep a clock close by and watch it while making your call. It would be even better if you can set an alarm so that you know when you are supposed to end your call. This way, you will not lose track of time and your money spent on excessive telephone calls. As much as possible, get billed by the second. A lot of phone companies offer services that charge you by the minute, and they do seem quite cheap. However, take note that if you rack up even a single extra second, that is counted as whole minute in such a service. In the end, per-second rates will be much more affordable in the long run than per-minute rates. Making long distance and international calls If you have to make long distance and international calls, use calling cards. Calling someone in another country can be quite expensive, so using calling cards from reputable companies should let you avail of better rates than if you just dial in with your landline straight. You can also make use of the Internet instead if possible, which should cost almost nothing, and you can use it more regularly as well. There are various voice messaging software with great features that you can make use of, making long distance calls through landline a moot point. The text messages Make use of unlimited text plans if you are a frequent user of text messaging. But before availing of such services, make sure that the amount of text messages you send throughout a day is greater than the total unlimited rate itself so that you would not be wasting money on it if youre actually not that big SMS user. Always update your current service to the latest offers that would benefit you. Phone companies regularly come up with various discounts and special promos, but they do not actively notify you of them. You can update yourself with such offers through flyers, brochures, and the companys website. You may even keep note of them if you are that serious with saving money on your telephone bill.

Marketing doesnt only starts from the time we promote our business or products to customers, but it co exists with the life of our business. When we create a business plan, we should also create a marketing plan. In other words, marketing is an essential part of our business success from conception to expansion.

There are many marketing principles and techniques we can learn. Most of them are learned inside the classroom, but there are also great principles that are realized outside the school. Some of our marketing knowledge and wisdom are taught by our great marketing mentors; some of them come from our own experiences. But marketing is such a great insight that there are marketing principles that can only be attained through personal reflection. Besides, it involves maintaining good customers or human relations. Marketers work online and offline. And whether it is backed up with the latest technology or an expensive budget, marketing isnt far different from doing it manually and freely. The ultimate goal of marketing is to provide value for customers and consequently achieve success for all of our business stakeholders, which include our workers, the society and ourselves. This site aims to teach its visitors and readers how to become a better marketer by consistently publishing free marketing articles and resources. The following are some of our blog posts and resources on marketing. Enjoy and learn! 50 Free Small Business Marketing Ideas and Techniques Here is a list of 50 marketing ideas and techniques you can apply to your small business. Actually, big businesses also practice them. But since you will not incur any dime to perform these techniques, this can be a ground where micro businesses and giant businesses have equal opportunities to succeed. How to Increase Blog Traffic Using the Marketing Mix Ive been using these techniques to attract a thousand unique visitors every day. Take note that I havent spent any penny for Internet marketing campaigns and this blog is just more than 5 month old. The online marketing secret is a combination of the king (content) and its knights (Search Engine Optimization SEO) with other online and offline marketing strategies. 10 Marketing Tactics and Strategies for Your Small Business Being a small business owner or entrepreneur doesnt mean having a smaller chance of succeeding in business when it comes to marketing. These 10 marketing tactics can be used to overcome the marketing competition amidst of your giant business competitors. Quotes and Sayings about Marketing Quotations from the greatest men of our history are great sources of wisdom. When it comes to marketing, we can also dig great marketing insights from those short quotes and phrases which are filled with deep marketing wisdom. This blog post lists some of the quotes and sayings from people who can be our best marketing mentors. Marketing Tip: Give Time to Customers This article gives a quick tip to attract prospective customers and preserve existing customers. We spend money on marketing, but we also need to spend time on that process, from ensuring the quality of our products or services to assuring that our customers feedback are properly addressed and acted upon. How to Keep Customers Coming Back to Buy Your Products As its title suggests, this article will teach you an important lesson and secret on how to keep your customers coming back to patronized your products. Dont miss the opportunity to learn the formula. Discover it and achieve marketing and entrepreneurial success. How to Really Make Your Customers Happy When it comes to customers, there shouldnt only be quantity of customers, but also quality of customers. Quality customers mean happy and satisfied customers. This article will guide you to making your customers or consumers really happy. How to Become a Better Marketer Becoming a better marketer starts in having a better understanding of the whole process of marketing. Are you making the lives of your customers better? Learn the holistic approach of marketing and how you can apply it to becoming a better marketer. How to Become a Successful Marketer in 4 Steps This story tells four simple yet big steps to becoming a successful marketer. They are simple, but as we will realize it, life is simple yet difficult. This is also the same when it comes to achieving success in business marketing. That is why we need to prepare ourselves to become simplified yet ready to face hardships. Besides, great people are happy when they are challenged. Read this article and learn not only to become a triumphant marketer, but also to become a happy marketer. 10 Tips to Having Loyal Customers This is a list of 10 marketing tips to getting loyal customers. With the tough competition and ever evolving market out there, we need to ensure that we are having faithful and dedicated customers who will always support our company or brand. Learn how to give value to your customers and influence your customers to value you more.

To read more free marketing articles and resources, please visit and browse our Marketing Category Page. Have joy and have real success!